The Battle Within
by Yoshio the Hedgehog
Summary: Sonic finally tells Amy that she won't have a chance with him, and Amy is heartbroken. Years pass, she heals, and Amy no longer loves Sonic. However, may Sonic have been wrong...? RATED M FOR STUFF THAT WILL PROBABLY GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES LATER. -DONE!-
1. Prologue

_Ok, here it goes! My first fanfic! I hope you guys like it, and I don't know what else to say, so here we go!_

**The Battle Within**

_Chapter 1_

"SOOOOONIIIIIC!! HEEEEEEEELLLLLP!!"

Eggman was up to his old tricks again, and Amy was caught in the middle of it.

"LET HER GO YOU BASTARD!!"

A smirk just went across the Doctor's face as he seized up the situation. There was his rival, Sonic the Hedgehog, completely at his disposal. Eggman had sent Metal Sonic to caputre Amy while Eggman tracked down a Chaos Emerald, which he now had installed into his latest invention, the Egg Nova.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho! You can't save them both, Sonic! It's the girl or the city!"

Sonic was standing with the Egg Nova on one side of him, Metal Sonic and Amy on the other side. They were just far enough away that Sonic would have to choose which one to go after first, leaving the other to do whatever they wanted...

_That machine of Egghead's is capable of destroying the city in the quick press of a button...But on the other hand, Metal over there could snap Amy's neck in an instant!_

Sonic hesitated for a second as he attempted to think of a quick plan that would leave Station Square standing, AND Amy unharmed. This was no easy task...He couldn't let either be destroyed. Finally, he had it.

"HEY EGGHEAD!! CATCH!!" Sonic yelled.

Eggman stopped his laughter just for a split second to think what that might mean, but by then it was too late. Sonic jumped off the side of a building and hit Metal Sonic's back at speeds that were surprising, even for Sonic. In that single hit, Metal's shoulder was disconnected from it's socket, causing him to drop Amy, as well as fly towards the Egg Nova. Amy screamed, but she was quickly caught by Sonic, and they landed safely.

Eggman had time think one quick word before Metal collided with the Egg Nova at an extremely high velocity, one that would likely destroy the machine.

_Shit._

Just as Sonic planned, Metal struck the Egg Nova with such a force that it was instantly worthless. As the main fuel tanks and circuitry exploded and frizzled, Eggman was seen launching out of it in his ever-persistent Eggmobile.

"You haven't seen the last of me!! I'll get you Sonic!!" he exclaimed as he flew off quickly, hoping that Sonic wasn't following him.

"Yeah, you better run! And don't come back until you have a GOOD plan!" Sonic yelled at him with his usual smirk of victory.

"Sonic! Oh, I'm so glad you saved me!"

Amy threw her arms around him as soon as she was put down. Her tears of joy ran hot down her face, as once again, her hero had saved her from certain doom.

"Oh Sonic, thank you so much!" she said while burying her face into Sonic chest.

"Come on Amy, it was nothing, you don't need to get so emotional about it…" Sonic said casually, but with a hint of…disgust?

"What do you mean Sonikku?"

"Well I mean-"

"I just love you is all, Sonic. And you continue to show that you might feel something for me!" said Amy, cutting Sonic off mid-sentence.

"Umm, Amy? That's something I've been meaning to tell you…"

Amy had stopped her tears by now, but now her eyes were still full of passion. "What is it Sonic?" She just loved to say his name…everything about him, he was so strong, so kind, so carefree and charming, so…

"I don't really like it when you say you love me."

Amy's thoughts were frozen on the spot, as was every muscle in her body.

"That, and…Well, I don't think I'll be returning your love. Possibly ever."

The tears were back in her eyes, but this time it wasn't joy driving them out.

"S..Sonic…Don't say that…Please…"

"Amy," Sonic began as Amy let go of him because her arms went numb from shock, "I'm not saying this to be mean, I just don't want you devoting your life to a lost cause. You're young, and I don't think you should be deciding who you want to be with for the rest of your life just yet. You see…" Sonic stopped when he saw her starting to cry, as well as the sadness and despair of a crushed dream in her eyes.

"Sonic…Please, you don't mean that…"

Sonic took a deep breath. _I'm doing this for her own good…_

"Amy, it's over. I'm sorry I have to say it this way, but I can't think of any other way to get the point across that I haven't tried already."

After thinking for a second, it made sense to Amy. _That's why he always would cringe when I hugged him as a surprise…THAT'S why he was avoiding me those few times… _As she thought about it, she could feel her tears becoming larger and more frequent. She shut her eyes tightly, as if that would make everything better.

"I'm sorry Amy…We can still be friends." Sonic saw that it was hardly helping the poor hedgehog in front of him. "I'll walk you home, if it will make you feel better…"

Amy sniffed and looked up at him with teary, heartbroken eyes. "Yes…Please…" She had a hard time even getting those words to come out, she was choking on the words of her love. _Please let this just be a nightmare…I don't want to let go…_

Sonic started to walk, and Amy instinctively held onto his hand. Even though she had just been told she wouldn't ever be with her one and only true love, she wanted him just the same. Sonic let her, he knew it was going to be hard for her to let go. He genuinely did not want to hurt her feelings, but instead free her from following a path that would lead to a dead end.

The walk seemed to take forever, and Amy was sobbing the entire way. Every time she took a step, it felt like a part of her was being ripped away, as if her entire soul was being left behind in a trail of shattered dreams.

This can't be happening…I can't live without him. Why me? All I wanted was to love him…That's obviously too much to as for…I'm such a fool, I can't stand myself! Why…oh, god WHY!? I know we were meant to be together, I know it! I can feel it…

By the time they had reached the door to Amy's apartment room, the pink hedgehog was willing to do anything to change Sonic's mind.

He led her inside and sat her down on the couch in her living room. He stood there for a moment, looking at the broken spirit before him. _Oh god…_ He thought. _I feel so bad for doing this to her…But it has to be done. If she would have fallen in love with me any further, she might commit suicide when she learns that I don't love her back…_

"It'll be ok Amy, trust me. I'm still your friend, right?" Amy responded by sobbing louder. She was too heartbroken to listen to reason.

"Listen Amy, it's late, why don't you get some rest? I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning."

As Sonic turned to leave her to her thoughts, her unexpected clinging on to him from behind stopped him short.

"PLEASE DON'T GO!! Pleeeaasssseee doon't leeaave meee…" She sobbed out every word, shrieking and crying in sorrow. "I'll do anything! I can change! Just PLEASE don't gooo!!" Her crying worsened, and she could barely even speak due to the immense emotional pain and turmoil she was experiencing.

"Amy, I'm sorry…"

A tear fell and hit the ground. But it wasn't Amy's. Sonic pitied the poor girl, but he didn't turn back. The sight of her in that amount of pain caused by him would be too much to handle.

Instead, Sonic just slowly unwrapped Amy's arms from himself, and calmly said, "…It's better this way. You'll see."

And with that, he left. Amy collapsed into a heap on the floor and mourned for the death of any and all hope that she had. She completely overlooked the fact that he still wanted to be friends, that didn't matter right now.

He was gone…


	2. Three Years Later

_I'm not one to have huge intros, so let's just jump right to it where we left off!_

_Chapter 2_

Over the next few weeks, Amy didn't really live. She just existed, an empty shell of the once joyous girl she had been. Every moment felt like a living Hell. Every time she woke up, she wished she had just died in her sleep. Sonic attempted to cheer her up by going to see her a few times, but every time he would knock she would just burst into tears again.

But time will eventually heal wounds, so Amy learned. Little by little, she did try to get over it. And she succeeded. Eventually, Amy was healed. She no longer had the desire to have Sonic. She finally realized that it WAS an empty hope, and common sense told her to move on. She listened.

3 years have passed. Amy is now 15, leaving Sonic at 18. Amy has gotten a hold of her life again, and things are back to normal, except Amy isn't in love with Sonic any more. Their friendship was left intact, and things were great. Hell, they've never been better.

Tails, now 11, has invented the Tornado III, a great tool in the fight against Eggman. It is equipped with dual laser cannons, as well as a short-term super booster for quick getaways or chases. It retains the power to turn into a mech-walker, as well as an attack form. This variant, however, includes the ability to transform into a hovercraft, as well as a submarine. The Tornado III is Tails' greatest invention yet.

Cream, now 9, has discovered a knack for music. She has learned to play the piano very well, and has already written a small piece. The music she tends to play is always happy, and she plays for her friends just to see the smiles on their faces. She is quite talented, and now aspires to someday perform in front of a great audience, spreading smiles to all who hear.

Knuckles, now 19, has lightened his mood a lot. He has gotten a lot stronger, and now the Master Emerald, although powerful, is guarded a lot just by the thought of getting a beating by Knuckles. The red echidna doesn't need to watch it as often, meaning he can go around and have more fun with his friends. He also is a lot happier due to this.

Rouge, now 20, now leads a division in G.U.N. instead of working for one. This means that she doesn't need to do any dirty work very often; she just gets her operatives to do it instead. Now able to have more time off, she has become more social like Knuckles. Rouge has also proved herself to be trustworthy to her friends, no longer showing any sings of double-crossing them, like she did a few times in the past. She fits right in now.

All of these happy events leave the whole group of friends in high spirits. They laugh, have fun, and generally are better than ever. Except one troubling thing…

Sonic wasn't quite sure of something. It had been bothering him for some time. He can't quite put his finger on it, but something isn't right. Something was just out of the ordinary in his mind.

_What could it be? I feel something, but…what?_

Sonic was sitting on a park bench trying to figure it out. He sat and thought for some time, but still the answer eluded him.

_It's something that I've never felt before…I'm not quite sure what it is. Fear? No…I've been scared a few times in my life, and this doesn't feel like it…It can't be loneliness; I have lots of great friends! What is it…?_

He decided to get up and take a walk (or run rather) on it. He zipped out of the park and decided to go get a chilidog first. They always seemed to help.

He sat down at a table near the stand and began enjoying his food. They were his favorite after all. But this chilidog wasn't quite as good as the others he's had…he couldn't concentrate because of his problem.

_Well, I can rule out hunger now…Maybe I just feel…needy. Yeah, that must be it. I haven't bought myself something in a while._

After finishing his food, he got up and ran to the mall. While there, he walked around and got himself some new shoes (which he had specially made just for him so they don't fall apart), as well as a new jacket and some shades. But still, something wasn't right…

_Well I'm stumped. Maybe it will just pass. Well…except I've felt it for like a month now…Eh, it's going to have to go away eventually. No worries._

Sonic decided to leave the mall and walk home, not run. He wanted to take in all the sights to help take his mind off…whatever it was. But still, this odd feeling persisted. It was all he could think about, and yet he couldn't really think about something he didn't understand…

"Hey, Sonic!"

Sonic turned around to see Amy waving at him a few dozen feet behind him. He stopped and let her catch up to him.

"Hey Amy, what's up?" Sonic asked casually.

"I just saw you and wanted to say hi. Oh, is that a new jacket?" Amy replied with a smile on her face.

"Oh, this? Yeah, I just felt like buying myself something, so I did."

"Well, looks good on ya. Anyway, I wanted to know if you're going to Cream's piano recital tomorrow."

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. That girl is so sweet, trying to spread happiness throughout the world, it would be mean to NOT go!"

"Yeah, you got a point there. Well, I have to go, so see ya later!"

"Alright, see ya Amy."

Amy walked off down the street and Sonic just stood there for a second thinking.

_Amy…Something…Could it be…? Oh god…No, it can't be…but…_

Sonic stood there, dumbfounded at first, but them smiled. But then as soon as he smiled, his face was rendered neutral. He had finally figured out was clouding his mind.

Love.


	3. Confusion

_Ok, now we get going to the GOOD stuff! What? You thought that other stuff was good? I'm just getting started!_

_Chapter 3_

Sonic quickly realized what he was thinking and snapped out of it.

_Love!? No, no, no! What am I saying!? I can't be in love with her; I'm the one who said there'd be no chance! I need to get some rest…_

It was getting late anyway, so Sonic ran back to his apartment. When he got to his house, he looked at the pictures on his wall. One of Sonic surrounded by all his friends after a victory against Eggman, one of Tails standing next to the Tornado, a hilarious picture of Knuckles soaked after falling off of a dock…

And there was a picture of Sonic and Amy standing happily together on Sonic's 18th birthday. He looked at the picture carefully. He could see Amy's eyes were full of happiness, joy…but not love. The romance in her eyes was gone, but she was happy all the same.

He then looked at himself. He was smiling, as usual, but he noticed something he hadn't noticed before.

_Is that me…blushing?_

He saw the faintest hint of red in his cheeks. Right there in the picture, was Sonic the Hedgehog, blushing because he was next to Amy Rose, the girl he turned down 3 years ago. Sonic was surprised that nobody else had noticed, but now that he had looked at it more carefully, he could see it.

_No…No, it can't be. I'm just being paranoid now._

He looked away and went into his kitchen to grab a coke and sit down to a little T.V. to try and get his mind off it. When he sat down and turned it on, he saw a romance soap opera appearing on his screen.

_Oh, COME ON!!_ Sonic thought to himself. It seemed that there was nowhere he could go where he was safe to not think about Amy in some way…

_Am I really in love…?_

That question plagued him until he finally went to bed that night. He sat in bed, unable to sleep, thinking it over in his head again.

_She was in love with me, but I turned her down because I knew I wouldn't fall in love with her…But now, could I have really taken that path I said I wouldn't? Could I have caused her all that pain for nothing? And if it is true…will she accept it?_

He stayed up for hours thinking about it, until weariness set in and he drifted off to sleep. His dream that night starred himself…and a special pink hedgehog.

"_Amy!!"_

"_Sonic!!"_

_Sonic ran after Amy, and she did the same. When they met, they just embraced eachother in love._

"_I'm sorry for doing what I did Amy, but now I must confess. I love you Amy Rose…"_

"_Oh, Sonic…I love you too…"_

_They were about to kiss, when something happened…Amy was snatched out of his arms! And there was Eggman, laughing it up in some new invention. Metal Sonic had snatched the poor hedgehog up, and Sonic wasn't going to take this lightly. He kicked Metal into Eggman's machine, and caught Amy. But when she landed, Sonic just ran. He ran and ran, and when he stopped, Amy was in front of him._

"_I love you Sonic!"_

_Sonic looked at her in disgust. He found her annoying and immature._

"_Get lost Amy, there's no chance!"_

_Amy then fell to the ground and started to cry. She sobbed for a minute, and then Sonic bent down to comfort her._

"_Amy, I'm sorry…I love you."_

"_I HATE YOU SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!!"_

_Sonic was shocked at what his love had said to him. Sonic stumbled back a few steps, as if the words had pushed him._

"_I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!! I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!"_

"_A…Amy…!"_

"_YOU CAUSED ME SO MUCH PAIN, YOU BASTARD!! I HATE YOU!!"_

_Sonic was devastated to hear this. He could feel tears running down his cheeks, and he got up and ran. But no matter how fast he ran, Amy always seemed to be right there behind him…_

"_I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!"_

_He ran faster and faster, until he tripped and skidded along the ground. He sat up and felt the blood running down his face and chest, and he was crying now. He couldn't take it._

"_I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!"_

"_No…" The tormented blue hedgehog mumbled, "Make it stop…No…NO!!"_

_He could feel his heart breaking inside him. The shards pierced his lungs and he coughed up blood. Laying there helplessly, he could only listen as the once sweet girl was yelling at him, crushing his very being._

"_I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!"_

_Sonic was feeling a great pain in his chest now; something unnatural. He looked down to see a bulge where his heart was. In that instant, his chest ripped open and blood spewed everywhere. He tried to scream, but he just coughed up more blood and began to choke on it. He could see the shattered remains of his heart laying about him, all bleeding their own river of crimson._

"_I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!"_

_Those three words were tearing his soul to pieces. He felt the pain of it all as he laid in agony, helpless to do anything. He wished he could just die then, but his suffering never seemed to end._

"_I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!! I HATE YOU!!"_

_Amy then reached into the gaping hole that was in his chest, and grabbed something. She tore it out forcefully, and Sonic managed to scream in pain. When he looked at his assailant, she was holding what looked like Sonic, but in a ghostly white and transparent form. Amy proceeded to rip it to shreds, with her hands and teeth. The hatred in her eyes was immense, and Sonic could feel every bit of pain she was causing to his spirit. Sonic started trying to scream out for help, but it just came out and gurgles and chokes of blood._

BRRRRIIIINNNNGGG!!

Sonic sat up quickly and was breathing heavily. He was no longer in his bed, but he had rolled out and was sprawled out on the floor, his blanket thrown off into a corner of his room.

"Just a nightmare…" He said to himself. "It was just a dream…"

He shuddered at the thought, and looked up at his nightstand. There next to a lamp, was a picture of Amy that he had taken on her 15th birthday. She looked so happy and full of life, and not an evil look to be found.

Sonic looked at the picture for a few minutes before mumbling a few words to himself.

"I…I love you Amy…"


	4. Smooooooooooth

_Wow, last chapter was a little…yeah! Let's keep on trekking!_

_Chapter 4_

Sonic set the bowl on his kitchen table and poured some cereal into it. He got himself a spoon and some milk, and was soon staring at a prepared breakfast. But her didn't really feel like eating. His nightmare ran rampant throughout his head, as well as his own words.

"I…love her. I, Sonic the Hedgehog, fell in love with Amy Rose…"

He couldn't believe it, yet he knew it was true. He had fallen for her, even after what he did 3 years ago.

"But that nightmare…what could it mean? Does it mean she hates me…?"

Sonic shuddered at the thought. He had just realized his love for her, and already the first obstacle was in his path.

"No, that can't be. My mind is probably just showing my fears…"

He looked down at his bowl and realized how hungry he really was. He picked up his spoon and dug in.

_I just missed her hugs and love so much, that I begun to crave it. And one thing lead to another, and I guess I just slowly fell in love with her. Nothing wrong with love though…Although after that Hell I put her through a few years back, I'm not sure if she'll really appreciate my love now…No. There has to be something left in her heart. A love like she had can't just die like that. If it truly had any depth, it would still be alive, if just barely. Still, I think I should wait to tell her…Wait 'till I'm sure myself._

Sonic finished off his cereal and drank the milk, then put the bowl in the sink and went to go put on his shoes.

"No matter how many nightmares I have, nothing can stop me from having my morning run!"

In a flash of blue, he was gone.

--

Tails was in his garage, as usual. He was performing a routine maintenance check on the Tornado III, making sure that everything was in check.

"Seat strap integrity level…high…Control wheel and levers frictional force…normal…"

He was going over everything he could possibly think of. The third incarnation of the Tornado was his greatest invention yet, and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Fuel tank wall deterioration…nonexistent…Windshield transparency…perfect…"

The clipboard the young fox was carrying and writing on must have had at least 40 pages on it, and that was only for this check. He also had stacks of other diagnostics and blueprints JUST for this particular machine, not to mention for his other creations. He wanted nothing to be wrong with his brainchild.

"Circuitry section 23-B…functional…Circuitry section 24-A…functional…"

Tails was now taking off random panels of the exterior hull, checking all of the inside machinery, circuitry, and framework for any and all imperfections. Of course, the exterior hull had to be heavily bolted on to prevent it from falling apart when in use, but Tails had a heavy-duty machine that could flawlessly take out the bolts and put them back in.

"Main engine condition…above average…extra engine connector…!!"

Tails dropped his clipboard in shock. There was a small pinhole in the injector that channeled fuel from the main engine to the extra booster. There would be no imperfections on his ship. He quickly ran for his tools and grabbed a spare part from one of many crates he had laying around.

The two tailed fox worked with such efficiency that he could take a job that would take a day to complete and finish it in an hour. Whenever people watch him work in full concentration, they are always lost and amazed at the same time. Only the evil doctor can rival Tails' prowess in machines, but Eggman's intentions are corrupt and his mind is only set on crushing things, so he forgets little things, unlike Tails. This leads Tails' machines to always come out on top.

"I just have to disconnect this here, and pull this back here…"

Tails talked to himself when he worked, it always seemed to help him concentrate. But right in the middle of his work, he realized something.

"Cream's recital!!"

It was nearing time, and he was only three quarters through his check. He quickly finished his work and ran back into his house to grab a quick shower.

--

Sonic never did go back to his house after his morning run; he just decided that he would keep himself from doing something stupid by running out into the country and looking for big hills he could run and jump off.

He was getting slightly tired though, for he had been running and jumping for nearly 6 hours now. He ran back to town and checked the nearest clock he saw.

"4:53…Oh god, Cream's performance is at five!!"

As fast as only Sonic could run, he ran off to the Minor Performances Center. On the way though, he ran right past Amy, who was also running late. Sonic skidded to a halt and turned back and ran to her.

"Oh, Sonic!"

Sonic choked on his words as he attempted to stop himself from saying 'I love you'.

"Sonic, are you ok?"

"Umm…yeah…Just tired from running all day."

"Oh, ok."

"Yeah…" Sonic tried to hide his face; he was obviously blushing.

"You sure you're ok Sonic? You're acting really strange…"

Sonic quickly stopped himself and looked her in the eyes. He then froze.

My god…They're gorgeous…

"Sonic?"

He quickly realized what he was doing and promptly responded.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine. Listen, we're going to be late to Cream's piano performance…"

Amy still thought that Sonic was acting oddly, but she overlooked it this once. _Guys are so weird sometimes…_ She thought to herself.

"Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you Sonic. Could you run me over like you used to? It'd get us both there on time."

Sonic would have normally just said yes, under the pretenses that she wanted to be held by him. But this time, he knew that Amy sincerely just wanted to get to her friend's recital. That, and Sonic wanted to hold her for a change…

"…Sonic?"

Sonic quickly realized he was losing himself in thought again, and snapped out of it.

"Oh, yeah, sure, let's go!"

He picked her up, held her bridal style, and ran off towards the Minor Performance Center yet again. Along the way, he passed Tails, who was also about to be late. He didn't stop this time though; He wanted to hold Amy, and stopping would mean he would have to put her down. Tails was fairly fast anyway, Sonic was sure he'd make it. The love struck hedgehog looked down for a second to look at Amy, who was holding on tight to him.

_She's so beautiful…So…perfect. I don't know why I didn't see it before…_

"SONIC, WATCH OUT!!"

Sonic looked up and quickly jumped, barely avoiding a pedestrian. The person turned and began to stream off some colorful words, but Sonic was already gone.

"Sonic, be careful!" Amy gasped to him with worry in her voice.

"Sorry Amy…" Sonic quietly mumbled.

_I can't let this take over my life…_


	5. The Concert

_Hey, apparently I'm good at writing because I haven't really gotten stuck yet. That's good, right?_

_Chapter 5_

Sonic skidded to a halt in front of the SPC, and ran inside and went to the front row. He found the best seats, right next to the stage that were reserved just for Cream's close friends. As he approached the row, he noticed that his seat was next to Amy's. _What luck…_ Sonic thought to himself.

"Umm, Sonic? You can put me down now." Amy said with a smile on her face.

"Oh!" Sonic quickly responded. He set Amy down in her seat, and blushed. Good thing it was dark in the room though, because Amy didn't see it.

"Thank you for getting us here on time." Amy casually said as she stood up again. Sonic looked a little confused at first, but Amy had stood up to give him a friendly hug. His eyes widened and his heart raced as he had a momentary flashback of when Amy used to hug him all the time. Except this time, he wanted it.

"You're…You're welcome."

Amy smiled and took her seat, and Sonic followed her lead and did the same. He looked over a few seats to see Knuckles and Rouge already sitting there, but apparently they weren't paying attention, seeing how Knuckles was whispering something in Rouge's ear and she was giggling quietly. _Good…_ Sonic thought. He didn't want anyone to see his goofy manner.

"Sorry I'm late!" Tails whispered as he came in hurriedly and took his seat next to Sonic. "Did I miss anything?"

"Nah, you got here just in time." Sonic said, while gesturing to a clock, which had just flipped to 5:00.

"Oh, good. I wouldn't want to disappoint Cream." Tails sighed in relief.

Sonic smiled and looked over at Amy for a second, who was looking at the clock. _Wouldn't want to disappoint her either…_Then he shook his head quickly. _Come on Sonic! Keep it together! It's just…just a phase. Yes, that's what it is. I'll be extra nice to her, but I CAN'T let this get out of control…_

The curtain on the stage began to rise, revealing Cream sitting at a piano on the stage. She had on a simple white dress and a large white flower behind one of her ears. That, in combination with the white spotlight, the knowledge of her polite and kind nature, and the fact that her purpose for music was so pure, all combined to make her seem like an angel.

Sonic looked at Amy for a second, and he saw the light sparkling in her eyes. Amy was obviously enjoying herself already, and the music hadn't even started. _There's more than one angel in this room…COME ON, STOP IT!! Can't I just go 5 minutes without thinking something like this? I mean, come on! I…I'm not even sure if I really love her or not! I just had one dream and some random feeling and…_

Sonic stopped his thought because he knew it was useless. He was trying to convince himself that things just weren't the way they were.

Cream smiled at the audience, and began to play a soothing melody. The sound of the piano flooded the room with an unmistakable feeling, one of good cheer and joy. Cream's song then quickened the pace a little and added some bass, as well as changing the tone to more joyous somehow.

Wow, I've always heard of music being able to calm someone, but…just wow.

Sonic had never heard this piece before either. _Cream must have written it._ He thought to himself. _Only she could have come up with something this innocent and pure._

Then something odd filled his mind. A feeling of self-disappointment. Even as the happy and calm music filled his ears with it's wondrous delight, he wasn't feeling completely content. Then, he started thinking very odd thoughts.

_What the hell am I thinking!? AMY's the one who I'm supposed to like!! Wait…what? Why would I think that? Why am I thinking…What's going on!?_

Sonic was now feeling very out of place as he was arguing with himself in his head. Amy, having been engulfed in the music's splendor, didn't notice Sonic's mood. She gently nudged his arm and whispered, "This music is so uplifting, isn't Cream sweet?"

Sonic didn't answer though, because now he was fighting not only his self-disappointment, but he was trying to keep his cool in front of Amy, even though it was not really working.

"Sonic? Are you sure you're ok?" Amy whispered worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He managed to whisper back in a very unconvincing tone.

"Sonic…Don't lie to me. I know something's up." She said with a concerned tone in her voice.

"I…I'll tell you after the performance." Sonic said, looking down at his feet.

"Ok…" Amy then leaned her head back in her chair and took in the beautiful melodies again.

What am I saying!? I can't tell her yet!! But…She needs to know eventually…But…AUGGHH!!

Sonic, still battling with his own mind, just gripped the armrests in his seat tightly and forced himself to stop thinking and listen to the music. This didn't work as well as he hoped, but he at least stopped the bickering in his head.

The remainder of the performance went flawlessly; Cream had played elegantly and there was not a single person unhappy by the end. Sonic, however, was still a little torn between really telling Amy or not. He knew he had to eventually if his feelings were absolute, but if they weren't and he DID tell her, he might get Amy's hopes up and let her down again, or he might end up making a fool of himself. It was a very hard thing to decide on, considering he had just realized his love not too long ago.

Cream took a bow and the crowd cheered, signaling that the audience was now free to talk and move about at their leisure. Most of the general murmur was about how great the performance was, or how sweet Cream must be to want to spread happiness throughout the world. But not in the best seats in the house.

"Sonic, wasn't that beautiful?"

_You're beautiful…_He thought to himself. "Yeah, Cream's really something, huh?"

"Oh, I wish she would have played until that music flowed out of this building and spread throughout the world…That way, we could be happy all the time." Amy sighed dreamily.

_We...?_ Sonic was surprised at first. _You mean like you and me?_ He almost said it out loud.

"By the way Sonic," Amy started as they began to leave and go congratulate their friend, "What was bothering you?"

Sonic gulped and his words got caught in his throat. _Should I tell her? Oh my god…Oh my god, oh my god, oh my GOD WHAT DO I DO!?_ Sonic had that uneasy look on his face again.

Amy stopped a few steps from the backdoor stage, and so did Sonic. Knuckles, Tails and Rouge continued on. Cream opened up the door and was promptly meet with cheer and smiles.

"Sonic?"

_Come on genius! Make a move! DO SOMETHING!_

"Sonic, are you feeling well?"

Sonic couldn't decide with logic, so he decided to just say whatever came first to his mind.

"Amy, I love you!" He quickly blurted out.


	6. Mixed Feelings

_(Is playing Nintendo) Oh, story time? Ok._

_Chapter 6_

Amy stood there, not sure of what she just heard. Everyone else froze too, all looking at Sonic, some with looks of disbelief, some just plain shocked.

_Crap, I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have opened my mouth, I should have said I was sick, anything but what I just did…_

Sonic was bracing himself for the worst. He knew that with what he just did he could have quite possibly ended his social life.

Cream was the first one to break the silence. "That's so sweet Mr. Sonic!" Cream didn't fully understand what Sonic was thinking and what Amy had gone through, so naturally she just though that Sonic and Amy would finally be happy together.

"…Wow…" Amy eventually said. "I…I honestly don't know what to say…"

_That's just her trying to be nice about it; I know that she hates me now. Oh god, why did I even say anything…_

It was really apparent to everyone now that Sonic wasn't enjoying this position at all, so being the friend that he is, Tails decided to try and change the subject.

"Hey, uhh, wasn't Cream's music great?" Tails was kinda unsure if he was really in line to be doing so. But Rouge saw what he was attempting to do and decided to help the situation.

"Yeah, it was a wonderful piece you played. Was that an original Cream?"

"What?" The young rabbit didn't get it at first, but answered the question all the same. "Oh, yes Ms. Rouge, it was. Thank you, I'm glad you liked it." She smiled in a way that only an innocent little girl could.

Sonic and Amy were still frozen in shock, and Knuckles was still in disbelief as well. All three of them wondered if it was just a dream. In fact, all six of them did, but they all knew better. Knuckles eventually re-entered the conversation that was attempting to keep their minds off a subject that was clearly not for them, but Amy still just looked at Sonic. After a few minutes, Amy just beckoned for Sonic to follow her. Of course, he did.

They stepped outside, and Amy leaned against a wall. "Wow Sonic…You really mean what you said?"

Sonic was debating whether or not to just say it was a joke, but he knew that it wouldn't last too long if he did.

"Ummm…yeah…I do." He felt guilty now, he knew that Amy probably hated him and would never be his friend again. He looked down at his feet and closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable rejection.

"…I have a question Sonic."

"…Shoot." Sonic said with his head still hung low.

"Why? Why did you do what you did 3 years ago just to come out and say this?"

_Here it comes…I'm dead._ Sonic was sure that the happy part of his life was over.

"I…Amy, you have to understand, people change."

"I understand that more than ever right now. I'm not stupid."

Sonic cringed as he regretted his words. "Well, that's…I didn't mean…"

"It's ok Sonic…I know how it is to be in love. And I know what it's like to be rejected…"

_Please Amy, don't do this…I'm sorry for what I did, please don't do this…_ Sonic was now on the verge of tears as his mind started to put together all of the horrible ways that this could end. Amy saw this, and she decided to let Sonic sit with his thoughts for a moment.

"Amy…" Sonic finally said, "Do you…love me back?"

The look on Amy's face was a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "You're really asking that after what you did?"

"I know, I'm horrible, but please forgive me…" Sonic was desperate now. For all he was concerned, he had nothing else to lose anyway. "I was so stupid to crush your love then, and I'm really sorry…Please forgive me…" A single tear fell slowly down his cheek and fell to the ground, and then the love-struck hedgehog closed his eyes and turned away from the one he loved most.

There was a long silence as Amy thought carefully. _Wow…He's not kidding. He actually loves me…But…That part of my life was over, I thought. Still…I don't want to hurt his feelings. I still care about him as a friend, and who knows, I might fall for him again…I'm just not sure right now…_

"…Sonic…"

The blue hedgehog looked at her with a grief-stricken look. "Amy, I knew I shouldn't have said anything. I know you don't love me any more, and it was selfish and rude of me to even bring this up. I bet you hate me now, so I'll just go…" Sonic turned again and began to walk, when Amy spoke up.

"I'm not saying no."

Sonic's ears perked up and he turned around slowly. "…You're not?" He said, with much disbelief.

"That's right, I'm not saying no. But I'm not saying yes either." Amy was attempting to create a situation of neutrality so she could just have a few days to get her thoughts and feelings straight, seeing how Sonic admitting his love for her threw everything into a whirl for her.

But for Sonic, he took this as a good sign. A little too good than he should have taken it. "So…you're saying I have a chance?"

"You might, it depends if you're going to act depressed all the time or not!" Amy saw his face light up and decided to keep the mood friendly.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm not usually like this. I don't know what came over me…"

"Sounds like love to me." Amy said with a smirk that made Sonic feel happy and uncomfortable at the same time. But he didn't care. The way Amy said it, it just sounded like she wanted to love him back, but was waiting for the old Sonic again. Or maybe for some more love back…?

He decided to wait before giving love to her, seeing how it was only the first night that he admitted it, so he tried being himself a little more. He put on his trademark smirk and tried to impress her in some way. "Yeah, the tables really turned here, huh? Who would of thought that one day it'd be me going after you instead of the other way around?"

The pink hedgehog clearly saw what he was trying, but still trying to keep the atmosphere friendly, she joked along with him. "Yeah, and you'll have to try TWICE as hard to win me over." She smiled to indicate it was a joke, but Sonic, blinded by his love for her, saw this as a sign of how to get to her heart.

"I will, don't you worry." Sonic said it with a joking tone, but he meant it. "We should go inside, I bet Cream and the others are wondering where we went."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Amy replied. But before going in, she gave Sonic a hug. "Just don't bite off more than you can chew boy, it only leads to grief."

Amy said those words from self-experience. Of all people, she should know this best, seeing how Sonic rejected her on that fateful day 3 years ago. And quite honestly, she didn't know if she would decide to love Sonic again. That kind of pain is very hard to forget.

But all there was for Sonic was the thought of holding his love in his arms and loving her for all of eternity. This was his only true wish in the world. And the day didn't turn out too bad, he figured.

_I have a chance…A very slim one, but still a chance…_


	7. Nightmares

_(Has switched to TF2) SENTRY DOWN!!_

_Chapter 7_

Aside from that little road bump, the concert went well. Cream was overjoyed that she had made so many people happy, and it was the best day of her entire life so far. Afterwards, everyone headed home, except Amy. She took a walk in the main park of Station Square, and eventually sat herself on a bench.

"Wow…Just wow. He finally falls in love with me, and I don't even want him like that anymore…"

It was getting late, but Amy didn't care. She had to think this through carefully; one wrong choice could be disastrous for both Sonic and herself.

"I don't hate the guy, but after what he did…I just don't know if I could fall in love with him again. I don't want to hurt him though…" Amy sighed. "All that time of chasing him, and when I give up, he's ready for me. And I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't love him anymore, and I'm actually enjoying life more. I don't have to spend those nights crying my heart out because of unrequited love anymore…"

Amy continued this confused argument with herself for quite some time. And Sonic wasn't exactly having a perfectly joyous night like he thought he would.

It was about 2 am, and Sonic couldn't sleep very well. Every time he was about to drift off, something would pop into his mind and he would start to think about it, which kept him up.

"Amy…" Sonic was saying to himself, as if she could hear him, "Please, just give me a chance, just one chance to prove myself worthy, and I promise I won't let you down…I love you…"

Despite his previous good mood, he was now having his doubts. "My and my damn mouth, I shouldn't have said anything…I know what she said, but I know that if I were in her position, I wouldn't be ready to forgive someone after going through that…"

After about another hour of his mind tormenting him, he finally drifted off to sleep. But instead of finding comfort in dreamland, he found only more strife.

"_Amy, are you here?"_

_Sonic was at her apartment's front door after being called over by her, but she wasn't there oddly._

"_Amy?" He decided to look around a little, but couldn't find her. He then went into her bedroom, the only room he didn't check. She wasn't there._

"_Hmm…I thought she said it was important…?"_

"_It is Sonic." A voice called from behind him. Sonic quickly turned around and saw Amy at the bedroom door, and she had closed and locked the way out. "You have something that you wanted to give me?"_

"_What?" Sonic was confused, he couldn't remember saying anything close to that nature._

"_Don't play dumb with me, hedgehog." Amy said coldly. She then tackled Sonic and pinned him to the bed. Sonic had the wind knocked out of him and was so shocked by this sudden change of events that he couldn't move. "You wanted to give me something, and I'm here to take it."_

"_A-Amy…!" Sonic managed to get out._

"_You put me through that hell and now you want to have my heart? Well, too bad. I want YOURS." The normally happy and nice girl now had a dark look in her eyes and was looking anything but nice. She pulled her arm back, and Sonic could do nothing but watch in shock._

_Amy thrust her arm down at Sonic's chest and penetrated skin and bone. Sonic tried to scream, but any sound he tried to make hurt immensely. Amy smiled darkly as she saw the blood, and grabbed what she was looking for. She ripped out the hedgehog's heart, and crushed it in her hands._

"_FEELS GOOD, DOESN'T IT!? OR HAVE YOU NEVER HAD YOUR HEART RIPPED OUT BY THE ONE YOU LOVE BEFORE!?"_

_Such cryptic, evil words, yet Sonic knew she was right. He was wrong to do what he did the way he did it, and he was truly sorry…_

_The blood was now starting to soak through the sheets and drip onto the floor, and Sonic was slowly and painfully dying. He managed to open his eyes just barely and see Amy as she threw his broken heart into nothingness. She then turned to him again and dug her hand deeper into his chest, ripping and tearing at anything she could feel. Ribs, lungs, muscle, all must go._

_Rip, snap, crush, sputter, gurgle, crunch, tear…_

Again, Sonic woke with fear and pain in his eyes. He quickly reached for his chest, feeling that there was nothing wrong. He sighed heavily and felt more tired than he did when he went to sleep. He glanced at his clock.

"…5 am. Ughhh…."

He didn't understand why he was having these nightmares, nothing was TOO wrong with his life…or was it?

_Damn nightmares…is it a sign? That…she'll kill me? No, I don't think she could manage that…but what…? My heart was destroyed in some way each time…maybe it's a sign that my heart will be broken, that I'm heading for some sort of doom? No…No, it can't be! It just can't!_

Sonic cringed at his own thoughts. The very idea of him being emotionally killed by the one he loved was almost too much to bear. He eventually drifted back to sleep, and nightmares greeted him yet again.

_"Sonic…please don't!"_

_"Amy, it's for the best…"_

_He pushed off Amy's hug and turned towards her._

_"Amy, please. Let go of this stupid crush. It will never work."_

_"But Sonic…" Amy was already crying, and her condition was worsening. "Please…Don't do this…I love you, there's nothing wrong with love!! PLEASE!!"_

_"AMY!! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!! GIVE IT UP!!" Sonic lashed out at her. Amy fell to the ground and began to cry and sob. She had reached her breaking point, and Sonic could feel the sorrow just emanating from her broken soul. But instead of feeling pity for her, or feeling sorry for what he was doing, Sonic enjoyed it. He enjoyed hurting that little 12 year old girl._

_"Suck it up, bitch!" He yelled at her, not caring about her in the least._

_Amy looked up at him in shock and fear, feeling betrayed and lost in the newfound darkness. Sonic just looked at her with a disgusted look._

_"Sonic…?"_

_"Oh, SHUT UP!!" Sonic was way out of control. His only intent now was to shut her up. Get her out of his life. Forever._

_He kicked at her side, and it was a direct hit. The kick was so forceful, she rolled over twice and screamed in agony as a few of her ribs cracked. She was sobbing out unintelligible sentences now, with a few words such as 'help' or 'Sonic' barely noticeable._

_Sonic ran up to her and kicked the defenseless body yet again, this time in the face. He wanted to make it count. A sickening crunch was met with his smile as blood jetted out of her now broken nose, and Amy was now going into shock. Sonic kept his relentless attack up, breaking bones and splitting skin, savoring each moment that a new escape for blood out of her body was made._

_He picked her up and looked into her eyes, which barely and weakly looked back at him. Those jade eyes, so full of sorrow and regret, sadness and pain…They must go too. Sonic jabbed his fingers into her eyes, and blood splattered against his face. He ignored it and dug deeper, then just threw her onto the ground and looked at the broken figure that had once been Amy Rose._

Sonic again woke with a fright, this time he was silently crying.

_What the hell..!? Why did I…?_

He then realized that it was just another dream, and his crying slowed, but he was breathing heavily still.

_Why would I even think such horrible thoughts!? What's going on? I love her…why would I kill her…?_

Sonic, now confused more than ever, sat there fighting with his thoughts and felt like he was being torn apart from the inside after watching Amy die in such a gruesome manner. By his own hand.

And he had missed his morning run.


	8. Healing

_(Doesn't even look up from game this time) Oh, come on! My ATB bar was slow a pixel that time!!_

_Chapter 8_

The next few nights provided no better dreams for Sonic. In fact, they might have gotten worse, and it was as if he was no longer even sleeping, only feeling pain. He looked tired all the time now, and something had definitely changed. He no longer was in his usual cheery mood all the time, he was almost always just thinking about Amy, or trying to shut up from saying more in front of her. Sure, he still could be happy, but whenever he was, it was almost always a love-related joy.

Knuckles, one year older than Sonic, had definitely noticed this, and was intent on talking some sense into his love-blind friend. He went over to Sonic's apartment, and when Sonic opened the door, he was greatly taken back. It was a mess, more than usual. It didn't look like Sonic bothered to clean at all in a week or so, and seeing how messy Sonic can be, that was saying something.

"Whoa, what happened here?" The red echidna said in a half-joking tone.

"Oh, that…it's nothing. Come in." Sonic replied wearily. He looked as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. Sonic lead Knuckles to his couch, and they both sat down. "So, what's up?"

"Sonic, seriously, don't you ever clean…?" Knuckles asked; the mess had actually almost made him forget why he was there in the fist place.

"Oh, so you come over just to insult how I live?" Sonic retorted in an annoyed tone.

"Easy there big-shot, I was only kidding…" Knuckles looked around. "…Kinda…"

"You know what!?" Sonic was obviously very annoyed right now, and not in the mood to joke around.

"Ok, ok, settle down before you have a stroke, I have something important to tell you." Knuckles took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm worried about you man. You haven't been yourself lately…"

Sonic rolled his eyes and sighed, "Yeah, yeah, of course not."

"I'm being serious now. You've lost your zing, you know what I'm saying?"

"No, I don't know what you're saying. I'm fine, and I feel great."

"Sonic, whenever you go on your morning run, I can hear it as you pass my apartment building. I haven't heard it in a few days now. You ALWAYS go on your run."

Sonic just sat there, not wanting to admit that Knuckles was right.

"You also look like you haven't slept in days, and whenever Amy is within 50 feet of you, you start freaking out and locking up or something. That, and this place, god…" He looked at the mess again and turned away as if it were burning his eyes.

Sonic just said, "Whatever…" Then he got up and went to his fridge for a coke.

"I'm telling you blue boy, you're letting this take over your life. If you don't stop now, it might be too late to go back."

Sonic zipped into the room and stood over Knuckles and was not happy. "You know what!? I don't appreciate it when you come into MY apartment and tell me how to live!! I don't have a problem, and I have it all under control, ok!? Now if you don't want to be a FRIEND, I suggest you LEAVE!!"

"…I'm disappointed in you." Knuckles calmly said. He then got up, and left the messy room.

An hour later, Knuckles' cell went off. He checked the caller ID.

"…Sonic. I wonder what he wants…" He opened up the phone and answered, "Hello?"

"Hey Knuckles, listen. I'm sorry for yelling at you…Could you come over again? Please?" Sonic spoke with a tone of regret, and he sounded very tired.

"Sonic, I'm not coming over if you're just going to explode at every piece of advice I'm going to give you."

"I cleaned up a bit, please, I need to tell you some things…"

_Well, that's a start…_Knuckles thought to himself. "Fine, I'll be right over." He then closed his cell and started off for the hedgehog's house once more.

Knuckles came up to Sonic's door yet again, and Sonic was waiting impatiently. He opened the door before Knuckles had a chance to knock, and they were soon back on the couch.

"Knuckles…You're right. There is something wrong…" Sonic began, "Well, you know that I love Amy…But I've been having all these nightmares, all of them including Amy and myself in some way…"

Knuckles had a puzzled look in his eye, but didn't interrupt.

"You see, my nightmares…" Sonic continued, "They've been horrible. Bloody. Heartbreaking. Painful. And a lot more…"

"Sonic…" Knuckles started as he saw Sonic was getting a little worked up again."

"Do you know how it FEELS to KILL your love!? To see her DIE in front of you!? And to LAUGH about it, only to moments later come to your senses!?" Sonic cut him off. He had tears starting to well up in his eyes, and he was breathing heavily now. "It feels HORRIBLE!! I must have seen Amy die at least 3 dozen times now…And you think you'd get used to it, but every time it feels worse…Sometimes she's killed by things I can't stop, sometimes I kill her myself…It's tearing me apart…" A tear slipped and fell.

Knuckles sat in amazement as the situation was going downhill purely on these dreams. "They're not real Sonic, it's not that bad…"

"Yes it is!!" Sonic yelled, fighting back tears, "How about you go over and kill Rouge and tell me it's not that bad, huh? NO? I thought not!!" Sonic was slowly just tearing himself down.

Knuckles decided to ignore the fact that Sonic just assumed that he was in love with Rouge, and tried to stay on subject. "Sonic…I'm sorry for what you've experienced-"

"You're not sorry," Sonic cut him off again, "you don't know what it's like. I've also had nightmares where I've hated her intensely. Why?" Sonic was now looking very desperate and hurt. "WHY!?"

Knuckles just stared at Sonic for a moment. Seeing him like this, so vulnerable, so weak. It's not like Sonic. "Maybe those dreams just show your greatest fears."

Sonic thought about this for a second. _He might be right…_Still, Sonic was feeling very distressed.

"Listen buddy," Knuckles started in a friendly tone as he put his hand on Sonic's shoulder, "it will all turn out ok. You just need to sit back and relax. I don't think Amy will like you very much if you're in a corner freaking out your entire life."

Those words that Knuckles said were probably the wisest he has said in some time. Though simple, their meaning was great and absolute.

"Yeah…You're right." Sonic began to calm down. "I just need to…just rest." But then Sonic began to think again. "Every time I try, the nightmares…"

"Listen Sonic, just think of it this way: Those nightmares show how much you really care for her. When you wake up, be glad that she's your friend and that you haven't killed her or that she hasn't killed you. Be glad that everything is ok. As if a miracle just happened."

_Since when did Knuckles know what to say in deep conversations like this…?_ Sonic thought jokingly. A joke. The first he's made in a few days.

"…You're right. I can't let this get me down. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog!" He smirked his usual smirk.

"That's the Sonic I know. Now, I gotta go meet up with Rouge at the mall."

Now in a better mood, Sonic joked around a little. "See, I told you that you two had something going on." He said in a teasing voice.

"Don't push me hedgehog, I can still beat you in a fight." Knuckles held up his fist.

"Heh, just kidding. Love bird." Sonic kept on.

"You're one to talk."

"…Touché."

Knuckles smirked this time. "Well, catch ya later."

"Ok, see ya Knux." Sonic smiled. It felt good to finally smile freely for the first time in what seemed like forever. He watched his friend go and then he got up to go make up for all the morning runs he skipped.

Meanwhile, something was going on. Something evil. Foreboding. Treacherous.

Something with machines.

Something with the word "Egg".


	9. Candacy

_They took my game…I guess I need to focus on the writing now, huh?_

_Chapter 9_

"This is it…The plans for my greatest invention yet. Now all I need is time…I'll just lay low a while longer, and Sonic will surely fall!!"

The evil Doctor laughed long and hard as he handed the blueprints to a robot drone, which went off to give the instructions to the rest of the workers. The production had started.

--

Sonic had never felt better. For some reason unbeknownst to him, Knuckles' words had rekindled the fire in Sonic's eyes. He didn't care why or how it did though, all that mattered to him was getting Amy now. With his new zeal, Sonic would run right over to Amy's house and ask for her answer. It had been about 8 days, after all.

He showed up at her door and knocked firmly with a smile on his face. When Amy answered the door, she smiled slightly.

"Hey Sonic. What brings you here?" Amy had an idea though.

"I just wanted to say hi to my favorite hedgehog in the world." Sonic replied with a smile.

"Why thank you…Why don't you come in?" Amy replied with less enthusiasm than she should have had.

"I would love to, thank you Amy." Sonic replied in an overly proper manner. He thought that by joking and having fun, Amy would see him as she did 3 years ago and she couldn't possibly say no.

They both walked inside, and Amy sat down on her couch. "Take a seat Sonic." She said in a friendly tone. Sonic came over and sat next to her gently yet playfully some how. "So Sonic, what's up?" Amy kindly asked.

"I was just wondering…" Sonic started, "…you know how at Cream's performance I told you…well…"

"Yeah…" Amy said to save Sonic the trouble of finishing that sentence. "What about it?"

"Well, it's just that…You said you'll think about what I said."

"And you're here to get my answer, right?" Amy was right about what she thought.

"Yeah…Sorry if I sound pushy…" Sonic said quietly, almost as if ashamed.

"No, it's ok, I understand…At least you didn't bug me every minute of every day about it." Amy joked.

"Yeah, I'm not that creepy." Sonic joked right back. He smiled and so did Amy. Sonic just loved her smile, that shining face. Just seeing her seemed to make his day now. But then Amy's smiled slowly faded into a neutral look, and this made Sonic's smile fade as well.

"So, for your answer…" Amy began. She sat and stared into her lap for a minute, as if deciding on what to say. Then Sonic's thoughts came back to him.

She's thinking about it…This is a sign, but is it good or bad? Damn, the suspense is killing me!!

Then Amy looked up with that same neutral face. "Sonic…" She started again, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think I am ready to accept you. If I were to accept you in the future, I'd need more time…" Her neutral expression slowly turned to one of sympathy and slight sadness. She knew that her words were going to hurt a lot, no matter how much Sonic masked it or ignored it. It would get to him eventually, and it wasn't an easy thing for her to say. But she knew that she couldn't just lie to him to make him feel better…

Sonic, just as Amy thought, was crushed. Not to the point of complete breakdown, but still sad all the same. He looked at Amy with a saddened face, but attempted to hide it from her.

"Yeah…Ok, I understand. I'm not going to force you to do anything, it's your choice…" Sonic said quietly to her, and then he let out a heavy sigh. _She doesn't want me…_

"Sonic, please don't take this the wrong way. You're a great guy, I just…I just need more time to figure out my own feelings."

Amy too, had been having dreams. But these dreams weren't graphic nightmares; they were mainly flashbacks to the past where she was in love with Sonic, or just a glorified thinking session about her own feelings. These kept her thinking a while, and she wasn't quite ready to come to a final decision for now.

"Ok…It's ok, I respect your decision. It's what you do when you love someone." Sonic looked into her eyes for a second, but then caught himself and looked at his feet.

"Sonic, I'm sorry…" Amy said with regret in her voice. But she wasn't about to change her answer, she just didn't like seeing her friend in pain.

"I said it was ok." Sonic said calmly. He didn't like the answer one bit, but he was virtually forced to accept it.

"Just keep being yourself, that's how I fell in love with you the first time. Don't try to win me over too much…Just let me come to a decision on my own. Ok?" Amy looked at him with a faint smile. And yet the smile warded off the sadness momentarily for Sonic.

"…Ok. I will Amy, don't worry."

At that moment, even though Sonic was older, it was very apparent that Amy was wiser in the ways of love and loss. Sonic had never really played around with the idea of love much, so he was still kinda figuring out the whole process. But Amy had had experience with chasing Sonic, knowing what makes the other mad, what makes them happy, and so forth. And what really set that in was the incident 3 years ago.

The two hedgehogs sat on that couch for a few minutes, each in their own world of thoughts.

_She doesn't want me…but that's only right now, right? She's still saying I have a chance, I just can't mess this up. I can't mess this up. If I do, I'll never be able to live with myself. I can't screw this up…For Amy, and for myself._

Sonic kept this up for a while, and Amy was having her own miniature battles…

_Sonic loves me, but I don't love him anymore…I mean, he's pretty much the same, just older, right? I'm older too…We're both wiser and more mature. Does that mean that I shouldn't be with him? My maturity tells me that Sonic isn't the right choice? No…that can't be it. I seriously don't know what to do…I mean, what if I find out later that I didn't really fall out of love with him all the way? But at the same time, what if I did? I don't want to hurt him, but I also don't want to get hurt myself…What to do…_

After about 5 minutes of silence, Sonic got up. Amy quickly broke her train of thought and looked at him.

"Sonic, where are you going?" she asked politely.

"I think I should go…I need to think over some things." Sonic replied, still in his slightly hushed tone.

Amy got up and gave the blue hedgehog a hug, which made his pulse skyrocket and his nerves go haywire. "Please don't do anything stupid." She told him in a polite, but firm tone. "You know what I mean." She said as she let go of him.

_Yeah…I know what she means…_Sonic thought to himself. _Amy considered suicide when I rejected her…at least she cares about me enough to still want me alive._

"Ok Amy, I'll be fine." He reassured her. Sonic didn't think he could bring himself to suicide anyway. He didn't think anyone could really be that depressed, unless all of their friends and family died or something…

Either way, Sonic left Amy's apartment with a friendly good-bye, and he ran home to think some more. Thinking had become his second-most practiced activity, next to running.

_Aaaahhhhhhhh…That was somewhat good after all. I got a hug from her. Happy day…_He smiled at the thought of Amy hugging him, in his arms, a hug that Sonic had tried to pack as much love into as possible.

_But still…I just want to have her in my arms again, I want her to love me like she did, I want for us to be together for eternity, with nothing to impede our love for each other. An eternal bond that is unbreakable…That's what I want with her._

Sonic was lost in thought like that for what seemed like forever. But the day's happenings just fueled the nightmares that were bound to happen that night…For both Hedgehogs.


	10. Darkness

_I make songs in Mario Paint. Epic songs._

_Chapter 10_

It was extremely early in the morning. 2:31 to be exact. Neither Amy nor Sonic could sleep well that night. Although their body was technically asleep, their minds were as active as ever…

_Darkness…Amy and Sonic are standing together in the darkness. All they can see is the few feet around themselves. Barely. There's nothing. Nothing apparently there…_

_Then there's a sound. "W-what was that Sonic?" Amy asks with fear in her voice._

_"I…I don't know…" Sonic answers hesitantly._

_Another sound reveals itself. It sounds like something's around them, but they can't see…The sounds become more frequent. They become louder. Then there's something that sounds like a growl. The gnashing of teeth._

_"S…Sonic?" Amy quietly whispers to the blue hedgehog, who what equally afraid._

_Then a creature of some sorts lashes out at the two young hedgehogs. Sonic shoves Amy out of the way and barely dodges the attack himself._

_"What the hell was that!?" Sonic yelled out quickly._

_"I don't know!!" Amy frantically replies, fighting back tears of sheer terror. She ran over to Sonic quickly and threw her arms around him for comfort._

_Sonic hugger her back, but quickly realized they were sitting targets. He got her arms off of him at lightning speeds._

_"Amy, we can't just sit here!"_

_The creature flew through the darkness again, and just barely missed the two as Sonic dodged with Amy's arm in his hand. Another lucky save._

_"Sonic…What's going to happen to us?" Amy quietly mumbled because she was so terrified._

_"It will be ok…It will. Don't worry…" Sonic tried to reassure her. But even Sonic didn't know, it seemed so hopeless. He had no idea where they were, or really, how they got there. He didn't know how to handle this one; an enemy that he can't even see is pretty useless to fight against…_

_Sonic picked Amy up in his arms bridal style and did the thing he knew best. He ran. He ran with Amy as far as he could. As fast as he could. Somehow, he had to get them out of there. Now._

_But no matter how fast he ran, he could still hear that creature stalking him…It seemed to never miss a beat. And even worse, it seemed that it had gained some support. It seemed as if there were now 4 or 5 of the odd things._

_"Sonic…" Amy said quietly, trying to confirm she was still alive._

_"It will be ok Amy…" Sonic said quietly. But again, he had no idea of that himself._

_One of the odd creatures tried to cut him off. Sonic jumped over it quickly and Amy shrieked. This pattern continued for about 5 more minutes, the unknown creatures trying to stop the hedgehog's tracks. But every time, Sonic managed to barely avoid certain doom._

_After about 10 more minutes of running, it seemed that the creatures had left. Sonic had been running blindly into the darkness, not having a clue where he was taking Amy. He was now extremely tired, and stopped to rest. The creatures had left anyway, he might as well…_

_He set his love down back on her feet and sat in the darkness. Amy sat next to him and leaned against his shoulder._

_"Sonic…What's going on?" Amy asked him in a shaky voice._

_"I…I seriously don't know Amy…But I'll find a way to get you out of here…" Sonic tried to comfort her. "…I have to…" He added quietly. Amy closed her eyes tightly and hugged his arm._

_Suddenly, the noises came back. The two hedgehogs quickly got back on their feet and attempted to figure out where their assailants were. But it was useless, the sounds seemed to echo all around, making them seem to be coming from everywhere._

_"Amy, I want you t-" Sonic stopped mid sentence with a jolt. Amy looked in shock and screamed out loudly._

_Sonic slowly looked down and saw a long, claw-like object sticking out of his stomach. The intense stab had sprayed blood all over the ground and Amy. The tears Amy was attempting to hold back now ran hot down her face as she saw the blood; the blood of her friend. No, more than her friend…She had fallen back in love with him. In that instant, for some reason, Amy loved Sonic again. They looked into each other's eyes for a split second, and that moment seemed to last forever._

_And then, as if they were talking telepathically in that frozen moment of time, Sonic began to speak._

_"Amy…" He started, "I want you to know that no separation can ever stop my love for you…"_

_"Sonic, please don't go…!"_

_"I'm sorry Amy, it's too late for me now…Get out of this place. Somehow. I want you to live…"_

_"But…But I love you! I love you Sonic! Please, you have to survive…!"_

_"…I love you too, Amy."_

_The time paradox ended, and the claw retracted from Sonic's stomach. He fell to the ground, blood poured all over._

_"SONIC!!" Amy shrieked. "SONIC!!" She fell to her knees and began to sob her love's name._

_"Don't leave me…Please Sonic, you can make it!!" Amy was sobbing out anything to try and bring him back, but she knew it was useless. Sonic was going to die, and she couldn't stop it._

_"I…I l…I love you…Amy Rose…" Sonic barely managed to groan out, the pain too intense to really say anything else. He was loosing blood fast; he was already very pale. He managed to open his eyes weakly and see his love one last time. The sight of her in so much pain was unbearable, yet the sight of her seemed to calm his soul._

_When Amy saw Sonic looking at her, it nearly broke her heart. The thought of him using the last of his strength just to see her one last time was extremely romantic, as well as saddening. Her tears were now of love and sadness mixed; it was an odd feeling._

_Then, out of sheer will, Amy laid next to Sonic with him in her arms, and closed her eyes. "I love you too…Sonic the Hedgehog…" She murmured. Then, Amy Rose let her life go. She willed herself to die, right there, beside her love. They had died together. Amy's soul took on the task of sharing the pain that Sonic's was, and when they had finally passed, they were together without anything in their way._

At the same time, Sonic and Amy sat up in shock. They had had the same nightmare at the same time. They didn't know it yet, but there really was a bond between them...Something beyond just physical want. But niether of them really knew. That's how they had the same dream at the same time...each of them were dreaming from their perspective however.

Nevertheless, this is a rare quality to have...


	11. New Light

_Sorry, got a bunch of new games, got distracted from writing. YAY GAMES!!_

_Chapter 11_

Amy sat in her bed, completely confused about the nightmare she just had.

_I was in love with him again…? So much so that I died after seeing his pain? No…No, I thought that part of me was gone…_

Amy looked at the clock sitting on the nightstand beside her bed. It read 2:46 AM.

_That's the first nightmare I've had in a while…and on top of it all, it's the first dream where Sonic and I fell in love with each other in an even longer time…Something is up. But…what?_

The confused girl looked around her dark room. She saw everything that should be there; an armchair, her bed, the overstuffed dresser, closet door, bookshelf…But still, it was as if she wasn't in her room at all. It felt as if she wasn't even herself either.

That dream had struck the dormant feelings for Sonic that she thought she had killed long ago. But just because she found it, doesn't mean she's ready to embrace it…

_I need some rest…Oh wait…_Amy realized she was already in bed, and lightly chuckled at her moment of stupidity. The teen hedgehog laid her head back on her fluffy pillow, and drifted peacefully back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Sonic was out of his bed, thinking yet again.

_She fell in love with me…Such a horrible place to be, such dark evil, and yet her love shone through…Tears were slightly present in Sonic's green eyes. That's beautiful…It truly is._

Sonic had been having very deep thoughts to himself lately, almost always about Amy. He was beginning to feel almost like a philosopher; he seemed to be figuring out so many things about love that he thought nobody would ever know without weeks of deliberation. But at the same time, Sonic was also beginning to feel a little helpless.

_It's moments like that that I strive for…Well, not us dying, but her loving me to that extent, and me being right there to return her feelings. Us just being together, nothing to stand in our path…And boy did that feel real…The love…and the pain…_

Sonic had never had a more realistic dream, even after his other nightmares. He could swear that he could feel Amy's love radiating from her. It gave him an indescribable warm and welcoming feeling inside; one of true love.

And yet, although he could feel the love, he could also feel the pain. The sharp pain of being stabbed right through, the fatigue of running for his life, the sorrow and regret of seeing Amy in such emotional distress. It was also very real.

_Could this be some sort of omen…?_ Sonic began to think again. Almost everything he dreamt he could someway or another connect it to something that happened or happened soon after in reality, no matter how much he had to twist it. This made him begin to think his dreams were slightly prophetic.

_It could be…To get to Amy's heart, to finally have us be together in eternal harmony, I will have to go through immense pain and suffering…? It…No, I don't want to have to do that…but…no, what am I saying? I'll do anything for her…Anything for Amy…_

Sonic got up out of his oversized bean-bag chair and climbed back into his bed. He slowly drifted back to sleep, and this time he didn't have any nightmares. But then again, he didn't have any good dreams either.

--

The next day, Sonic had just finished his morning run, when he decided to run over to Amy's to greet her a good morning. It was about 10 am right now; a perfect time to go see his favorite hedgehog in the world. Along the way, he decided to get Amy a little something. If she wouldn't accept it as a token of love, maybe she would accept one of friendship at least.

Sonic decided to go to the florists; he figured that since everyone says girls love flowers, it must be true. He decided to go with roses. They're cliché, but the name Amy Rose has the word 'rose' in it, so Sonic thought it was a good idea.

_Let's see…I remember something about roses in that one book I read, something about the colors meaning things…I think white means purity…Black is death…Yellow, I THINK is friendship…Pink is…everlasting love? And red…red is deep love and romance. Which one to get…I'm ruling out black for obvious reasons, of course…I think I should skip pink also, it sounds like something for when you're already married._

Sonic looked in the stands of flowers. He found the roses, and looked at the colors. Pink, Yellow, Red.

_Hmm…I guess white is out then. So, yellow or red…friendship or romance. She doesn't love me the way I love her, so friendship would be more appropriate for the current situation…but then again, romance might show that I truly do love her, and she might just love me back…_

Sonic thought about this for all of 10 seconds more, then smiled and bought a big bouquet of roses.

After giving his money to the kind shopkeeper, he left at a careful speed so that the flowers wouldn't be damaged. He hurried as fast as he could without ruining his gift to his love's apartment building. He entered the door, zipped over to the elevator, and punched in the number 7.

_Heh, that makes me laugh every time. My love lives on lucky floor seven. Not to mention room 15A…She's 15, and her name is Amy. 15A. Just odd._

The doors to the elevator opened up, revealing the hallway that would eventually lead to the door labeled 15A. He walked casually up to the door, and knocked exactly 3 times with his right hand. With his left, he hid the bouquet of roses behind his back.

The door opened to reveal Amy's smiling face. The way the light from a nearby window glinted off her eyes seemed to further glorify the moment for Sonic.

"Oh, Sonic!" Amy greeted him with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Good morning Amy!" Sonic replied with an equally joyous smile, "I just wanted to stop by to let you know how much you mean to me." Sonic brought out the huge bouquet of deep red roses.

"Wow!" Amy said in surprise. "Sonic! You didn't have to do this!" Amy was wide eyed in amazement at the sudden surprise.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just wanted to say I love you." Sonic meant this with all his heart, and Amy knew this.

She took the gift with great joy and amazement. "Thank you Sonic! I…I don't know what to say!"

"You don't need to say anything. Just know that I love you." Sonic smiled and then darted off. He was too close to coming out and kissing her already, he didn't want to just come out and be all over her. That would be uncalled for and creepy, exactly the opposite of how he wants to come across as.

Amy was left at her door, looking at the huge amount of red roses she had just been given. "Wow…Just wow…" Amy still couldn't believe it.

She walked back inside and sat down upon her couch with the bouquet in her lap. She took in the aroma of the fresh-cut roses and sighed.

"This should be a good thing…I mean, this means that he really does care for me…But…I don't know…"

The happiness she had showed before was half true, and half to please Sonic. Amy didn't want his feelings hurt, but she wasn't sure about this gift.

_It's thoughtful and sweet of him, I'll give him that. Someone might even call it cute. But…red roses. I know that Sonic knew what red means. He meant to tell me he was in love…more than just a normal crush. Again, sweet and thoughtful…but it just makes me feel uneasy. It's as if he's trying to sway me…I don't like that. I want to make my own decisions…_

Amy had thought herself into a type of fury. Now she felt somewhat mad that Sonic had done what he did. Still, she didn't want to let this extravagant gift go to waste. She got up and found a large vase, then placed the vase with some water on her kitchen table. Amy then proceeded to place the large amount of flowers into the vase, making it the centerpiece of the kitchen.

"Sonic really spared no expense…It's gonna be hard to really get used to him actually loving me. I thought I had the idea before, but this…"

Amy took in the sight of the giant bouquet once more before turning to leave her apartment. She needed to get outside, to breathe in fresh air.

_This is a fresh start. The start of what? I'm not sure…but I know it will be very distinct. Somehow._

Amy walked out the door of her apartment building, off towards the new day.


	12. Urgency

_Ok, I confess. TF2 is REALLY addicting._

_Chapter 12_

_I can't believe this…I have to tell him, now!_

Rouge ran off, leaving her drink behind. She WAS enjoying a nice cup of coffee, as she usually does in the morning, but she had just received a message informing her about something urgent. And she needed to tell the right people, fast.

"Tails!" The bat screamed as she burst into the young fox's workshop.

Tails attempted to sit up, but he was under the Tornado III and hit his head quite comically. He rolled out slowly on his board and sat up, rubbing his head.

"What's up Rouge?" He said a little shakily through the pain.

Rouge ran up and quickly kneeled next to him. "Tails, listen closely, this is very important. I need you to check ALL of your machines for ANY imperfections of ANY kind, or ANYTHING suspicious at all."

Tails saw the seriousness on the bat's face, but was a little confused at this sudden news. "What are you talking about?"

"Listen, Eggman has been working on something big, and I've heard that he has been working on bugging some important technology with the intent of destroying it. Knowing him, he'll probably go after you first, seeing how you're the only one with the mind to match his."

"Rouge, that's impossible. I have this place under constant surveillance-"

"You know how tricky that guy is, Tails." Rouge cut him off. "He could have had things as small as flies infiltrating your workshop…Just please, check your equipment."

"Ok, I will…" Tails was still a little confused, but from the seriousness in his friend's voice, as well as knowledge of Eggman's cunning, he decided that he might as well. Besides, he had been neglecting a few of his other things since the invention of the 3rd Tornado anyway.

Rouge bid Tails a hasty good-bye and set off to her next destination, leaving the fox to his work.

--

Knuckles was sitting on a park bench, just enjoying the nice sunny morning. His head was thrown back, and his eyes were closed. He could fall asleep right where he was, but he didn't want to wake up and have it be TOO late in the day. Besides, you can't enjoy the sun when you're asleep.

The echidna's peaceful morning quickly ended when somebody shook him back to full awareness.

_Why I oughtta slug this guy right in his face…_Knuckles began to think. But when he opened his eyes, he was greeted by Rouge's face. His overall attitude changed, but he still didn't like being shaken like that.

"Rouge, what do you want…?" Knuckles said with a little irritation in his voice, but otherwise generally warmly.

"Knuckles, you need to go back to the Master Emerald." Rouge said quickly and seriously.

Knuckles then sat up fully and very alert. "Why!? What happened!?" Knuckles' peaceful day had officially ended.

"Nothing yet, I'm warning you now though. Eggman is up to something-"

"EGGMAN!!" Knuckles had worked himself up, like he usually does. He was past reason now, and he just got up quickly and began off toward the Master Emerald shrine.

"Thanks Rouge!!" He yelled behind him as he ran off into the distance.

"…Well, that was quicker than expected. Moving on." Rouge mumbled to herself, and she ran off to her final stop.

--

There was a knock on the door, which jarred the hedgehog awake.

"Uggghhhh…what time is it…?" The blue hedgehog glanced at his clock. "Who the hell is knocking at eight thirty in the damn morning…?" Sonic hated being woken up. Especially before 10.

He rolled out of bed and yawned. He stretched a little and then blinked a few times. There was more knocking on his door.

"Hold on a minute, jeez!!" Sonic yelled at his door. "Give me a break, it's early…" He said to himself.

When the door opened, Rouge walked in and closed the door behind her. "Come…in?" Sonic said in a surprised tone. "What are you doing…" Sonic yawned loudly, "…here this early?"

"Sonic, wake up, this is important." Rouge said quite seriously.

"Settle down, I'm awake…" Sonic yawned again. _Make this quick, I wanna go back to sleep…_He thought to himself.

"You better be, because we might not have much time."

"Time for what…?"

"Eggman. He's at it again." Rouge said blatantly.

Sonic was still half asleep, so he didn't hear how serious the female bat really was.

"Calm down, I could kick that fatty's butt in my sleep…" Sonic smirked. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"Sonic, this time it's different." Rouge tried to get through to him; "He's doing something bad this time. REALLY bad."

"Yeah, same thing was said with the Death Egg. And the revival of the Death Egg. And the whole Chaos thing was supposed to be huge. Same thing with the ARK incident, and lots of other stuff. But we got through them all just fine, so I don't see why I should-"

Rouge was growing very impatient with the headstrong hedgehog, and grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake him more awake.

"LISTEN YOU LAZY HEDGEHOG! Why do you think the Doctor hasn't done anything for a good 3 years?"

Sonic, although a little peeved now, finally saw what Rouge was trying to say. _She's right…He hasn't done anything since that day…_But Sonic was still sure he could take him on, he'd done it before lots of times.

"Maybe he ran out of ideas. I mean, after his about 6th try, I ran out of ideas of what he was going to do…"

Rouge sighed and shook her head. "Sonic, just trust me. I have agents who figure out things, remember? He's up to something, and he's most likely been planning it for all of these past three years. That means-"

"Yeah, yeah, something with all the chaos emeralds, but I'm going to end up getting them all anyway, and he's going to somehow get them back from me, and I'm going to get them from him before he can do anything, and I will save the day again, and Egghead will run off crying. Again. We've been through this before…"

Rouge couldn't believe how arrogant Sonic was being right now. Sonic was supposed to take these things seriously, she thought.

"Sonic, stop being stupid." Rouge said sharply.

"Well stop waking me up this early then…" Sonic came right back. He felt as if Rouge had ruined his day already; he was in the middle of a GOOD dream this time, and it was just getting good.

"How lazy can you get…?" Rouge mumbled quietly to herself. "Just remember what I said. Go back to sleep, hedgehog." She got up and left the apartment as quickly as she came.

"Yeah, yeah…" Sonic grumbled. He was too tired to really care right now. _That oaf Eggface usually announces it whenever he's going to start something, I don't know why Rouge had to come in my house like this…_

Sonic climbed back into bed and drifted back to sleep. Unfortunately for him, his good dream did not visit him again.

Instead, he was greeted by more nightmares.


	13. Subconscious

_Trying for less TF2, more writing. Not really working. So I'll just write a lot to make up for it._

_Chapter 13_

Despite what Sonic had said to Rouge, deep in his subconscious the threat was taken very seriously.

_"AMY!!" Sonic screamed. He had gone to visit Amy to greet her a good morning, but instead he found a note pinned on her bed pillow. It said that Doctor Eggman himself had kidnapped the poor girl, and that he had taken her to his secret base._

_Sonic, quick as a flash, ran off to try and find Eggman's base. Thing is, he had no idea where to start. That didn't seem to stop Sonic though; he just ran out of the city and tried to follow any signs possible._

_"Eggman, I swear to god if you do anything to her I will break your neck and every other bone in your body!!" Sonic screamed to nobody as he was searching. But somebody did hear._

_As soon as he said it, a few missiles flew out from behind a nearby rock. Sonic jumped as fast as he could, barely dodging the warheads, but being singed slightly by the rockets. Sucking it up, he sped to where they come from. When he got there, a small machine was already armed with the next shot. It fired, destroying itself in the process, but also landing a direct hit on Sonic._

_Sonic flew back and hit the ground unconscious. When he came to, he was strapped down on a metal bed surrounded by robots. Then, a dark figure began to move in the shadows._

_"I see you're alive, hedgehog! You never cease to amaze me!"_

_Sonic groaned out a few simple words when he heard this: "Go…to…hell…"_

_"Oh-ho! Is this what I get for saving your life?" Eggman stepped out of the shadow and flashed an evil grin to Sonic. The blue hedgehog couldn't believe his ears. Eggman had saved him…but why?_

_"Oh, don't trouble yourself with speaking. You still need some time to heal. And besides, you'll need your strength for your challenge…"_

_'Challenge…what's he talking about?' Sonic thought to himself. 'I don't like this…'_

_"Rest blue boy. You'll need it! Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!!" Eggman laughed as he walked off. Sonic attempted to get up, but he really was tired. A robot injected a needle into his arm very roughly, and Sonic passed out again as the anesthetics were injected._

_Sonic woke up again, feeling better, but still groggy. This time, he was in complete darkness._

_"Ugghh…what…where am I…?" Sonic began to say. Just then, bright lights turned on and pointed directly at Sonic._

_"Ah, about time Sonic! She won't last much longer!" Eggman's voice boomed through an intercom._

_The lights in the room came fully on, to reveal that Sonic was surrounded by water. He was on a small circular platform, and there was no apparent way to get away._

_"You see Sonic, you are obviously trapped here. Now, if you would, look up."_

_Sonic cautiously obeyed, and he saw a small hatch._

_"That hatch will release a rope for you to get out. How to open it? Well, why don't you ask your little girlfriend!"_

_A small monitor lowered in the far corner of the room. When it turned on, it showed Amy tied up and completely underwater. She was wearing an oxygen mask, however._

_"I tried to save her too, but it seems she got hopelessly entangled in those nasty ropes." Eggman continued. "I also tried to give her some air, but I accidentally gave her a tank that had enough air for about a minute! Oopsie!" Eggman laughed at Sonic._

_Sonic was now furious. He looked down into the water immediately. "AMY!! AMY!!" He frantically searched, and then saw a small pink speck at the bottom. "AMY, I'M COMING FOR YOU!!" Sonic screamed as he dived into the water._

_At first, he went quickly down and had his mind focused on his goal. But he quickly remembered one fatal flaw of his: He can't swim. Still, going down is pretty easy._

_'I have to save her…no matter what…' Sonic said as he closed his eyes tight and managed to get to the bottom._

_Sonic came to Amy and signaled that he needed a breath. Amy took a deep breath from her tank, and let Sonic have a quick gasp of air from the mask. Sonic did so, and quickly returned it to Amy. But then, Amy had a VERY concerned look on her face._

_She tried to signal for Sonic to look at the tank of air. He quickly caught on and checked the little gauge._

_'DAMN! EMPTY!'_

_Sonic would have screamed, but he was under water. He tried as best as he could to get Amy untied, but the knots were extremely complicated, and Sonic was beginning to feel a little lightheaded._

_'I have to save her, I have to save her…'_

_Amy, not as able to hold her breath as Sonic was, was also beginning to fade. But she was going much faster. Sonic could see this and tried harder and harder to get the tight ropes off his love._

_'I have to save her, I have to save her…'_

_Amy's eyes eventually closed slowly and her head drooped down slowly._

_'No…NO!!' Sonic's thoughts exploded in his head. 'STAY WITH ME AMY!! STAY WITH ME!!'_

_At that moment, the hatch burst open and Tails, alongside Knuckles, burst in. They had already taken out Eggman's main defense, and had come to rescue Sonic and Amy._

_Sonic managed to get the ropes off finally, and held Amy close to him. 'Stay with me, please…' He thought as he tried and struggled to swim upwards. But it was no use; Sonic was a bad swimmer by himself, having to carry someone was impossible to him._

_Still, he struggled and tried to save Amy, no matter the cost. His struggle never seemed to end, it was as if it lasted forever. Sonic's lungs felt as if they were about to explode by now; he was good at holding his breath, but not this good._

_The devastated hedgehog finally sat down and tears began to flow out of his eyes and into the water. He too was deprived of air, and was too weak to even stand. As his eyes closed, however, a figure came down and grabbed his hand and began to pull him upwards…_

_--_

_"Sonic…Sonic, wake up!"_

_He knew that voice…Tails…_

_"Sonic, please wake up!!"_

_Was he…crying?_

_"Oh Sonic, you have to be alive…"_

_Sonic coughed and sputtered out water. The young fox's face lit up as he saw the first signs of life in what seemed like an eternity._

_"Sonic!! Thank God!!" Tails exclaimed as he cried tears of joy into his friend's arm._

_"H...hey buddy…How long was I…was I out…?" Sonic said after much more coughing._

_"About 5 hours…I was so worried, I didn't think you were going to wake up…I thought you were…" Tails trailed off in the middle of his thought. He didn't want to even begin to think of what would happen if Sonic really didn't make it…_

_Sonic coughed a little more and just sat there, immensely tired. '5 hours…I must have passed out when…!'_

_Sonic immediately sat up, his tiredness not bothering him anymore._

_"Tails…Where's Amy…?" Sonic asked shakily to his young friend._

_"Oh…Sonic…Umm…" Tails said very quietly. His mood quickly changed from joy to what looked like deep regret._

_"Tails…Where is Amy!?" Sonic asked once more, this time a little more frantically._

_"Well, Amy…she…" Tails broke off mid-sentence as tears began to well up in his blue eyes. The 11 year old looked up at his 18 year old friend with great sadness, as if to say 'I'm sorry'._

_"Tails…! You…You don't mean…!?" Sonic couldn't believe what was happening. "No…NO…It…It can't be!!" Sonic quickly got up and, for the first time, realized he was on the Tornado III. The craft had a small compartment with some meager beds and medical equipment, just in case. All of the beds also had curtains around them for privacy._

_Sonic quickly opened all the curtains around the beds. Then he stopped in shock._

_"Amy…!"_

_Laying there in the bed was Sonic's love, Amy. Her eyes were closed. Her skin was somewhat pale. She wasn't breathing…_

_"Amy…No, Amy, you have to be alive! AMY!!" Sonic fell to his knees at her bedside. The tears flowed strong out of the devastated hedgehog. He began to cry into her shoulder._

_"Amy…no…I'm sorry…Amy…" He sobbed out every syllable slowly and painfully. To him, this truly was the end. He had nothing more to live for…_

_Tails, being the friend that he is, came up to Sonic after a few minutes and gave him a brotherly hug. "I'm…I'm so sorry Sonic…" Tails was also crying. He too was extremely sad that Amy hadn't survived, and seeing Sonic so broken up about it didn't help at all._

_So overcome with grief, Sonic barely even noticed Tails' efforts. "It's all my fault…" He eventually said to his two-tailed friend. "If I was just a little faster…"_

_"Sonic, don't say that. You tried as hard as you could…"_

_"But that wasn't hard enough! She's dead Tails! DEAD!!" Sonic broke out in a new wave of tears again, holding on to Amy's arm and fruitlessly trying to find any comfort._

_"You almost died trying to save her…" The fox attempted to comfort him again._

_"Yeah, well maybe I should have!!" Sonic lashed out at him through his tears._

_"D…Don't say that…!!" The young fox choked out. "I'm…I'm sad that she's gone too, Sonic…" Tails began to sob a little again, "But we all did everything we could to save her…And you did the most. If it weren't for you, we might have not even found her in the first place. I'm sure that…That's she's proud of you…"_

_Even though Tails was still very young, his words were true, and his will strong. Sonic, however, was past being strong. His main reason for living had died, and for all he was concerned, he had too._

_"Sonic, there's nothing more we can do…The most I can do now is take you home…" Tails was crying all the same though. "I'll leave you alone now…" He added as Sonic was beginning to sob into Amy's shoulder once more._

_--_

_After a few hours of sobbing goodbyes, Sonic eventually was coaxed out on the Tornado III and guided by his friend into his apartment. Tails promised to arrange a funeral service, for Amy, as well as keep her body in a safe place._

_As soon as Tails left, all Sonic did was climb into bed and cry. He cried for hours upon hours on end, thinking about what he could have done better to save her, criticizing himself for not being able to get her to the surface in time._

_"It's all my fault…I'm a horrible person…" Sonic cried to himself._

_All of his sobbing eventually subsided as he fell into a tormented sleep, not really resting at all…_

Sonic woke up gently from his nightmare this time. The first thing he noticed were dry tears all down his cheeks. This sunk his heart immensely. _She's…She's really gone…_

Sonic didn't realize that all of those events were his subconscious messing with his mind. It was all so real, not to mention the dry tears which seemed to be from when he cried himself to sleep. His mind had tricked him into thinking Amy was really gone.

"Amy…" He quietly said to himself. "…Rest in peace…" Sonic said this in an extremely shaky voice, and after finishing those three words, he broke out in silent tears. The pain made it impossible for him to make any more noise; he just cried his heart out in silent darkness.

This pain seemed to immobilize him for several hours; he barely could breathe. After the initial shock of his re-realization of the loss, he quietly got up from his bed and slowly made his was toward his door.

"I have to…I need to see…" Sonic quietly mumbled to himself. He left his apartment slowly, not feeling like running at all.

--

He slowly approached Amy's apartment building, and tears were beginning to well up in his eyes again. He tried to hide it so he didn't attract attention, but it was really apparent that he was having a bad day anyway. The blue hedgehog solemnly got into the elevator and pressed the number 7.

On his way up, it seemed to take forever. It was as if he was rising to his final destination; he didn't know what he'd do when he got to her room. But he just had to go one last time…

The doors opened with a little ding, revealing the hallway of floor 7. Sonic slowly stepped out and stood in front of the elevator doors. They closed, and the elevator returned to the first floor to let other people ride to their destinations. The young, heartbroken hedgehog took a deep breath and slowly trudged his way to door 15A.

"Amy…" He quietly cried to himself. His tears had returned to him, but he didn't care. There was so much grief in his heart right now, that he began to openly sob.

"Amy…I love you…" Sonic's head hit the door as he sobbed out somewhat loudly. "Why…I'm sorry…"

Inside, however, Amy was reading a magazine for teenage girls like herself. But when she heard the sound of Sonic's head hitting her door, she looked up quickly. She heard sobbing as well.

"What in the world…?" Amy said to herself as she got up to see what was going on.

The door opened, and Sonic nearly jumped out of his skin as the door opened. He wasn't expecting this at all; he thought that nobody was in the apartment. Amy was also surprised, seeing how she had no idea why Sonic was in such a horrible state right at her door.

"Sonic…?"

Sonic opened his eyes slowly as he heard her voice. He couldn't believe it; he had to see for himself.

"A…Amy?" Sonic slowly said, his voice trembling from a mix of surprise, joy, disbelief and sorrow.

"Sonic, are you-" Amy began. But she was quickly cut off by Sonic's tight hug.

"Oh, Amy!" He started through his joyous tears, "Amy, you're alive!!"

"…!" Amy was so surprised by this sudden change in her day, she was speechless.

"Amy, I thought I lost you!! I love you so much…"


	14. Just Like Old Times

_When I started this story, I expected it to go MAYBE 7 chapters or so. Looky what I have now!_

_Chapter 14_

"Umm…Sonic…?" The bewildered girl managed to say. Amy had let Sonic in, but was completely confused about what was going on. They were sitting on Amy's couch, and Sonic was still in tears of joy after learning that his love 'survived'.

"Yeah Amy?" Sonic said with a very sweet smile. He still didn't know that what happened was only a dream.

"Sorry if I sound rude, but what are you talking about?"

Sonic just stared at her for a second. "You're kidding, right…?" He asked slowly.

"No, I'm not. Seriously, what do you mean that you thought you lost me? Nothing happened!"

"You don't remember being in that water tank in Eggman's base…?" The blue hedgehog was getting a little confused.

Amy was even more confused than Sonic. "No, I don't!" She was also getting a little mad. She thought that this was just some sort of ploy to get to her heart again…And that didn't really surprise her. Amy knew what love could do to someone if it's not returned.

"You mean you don't remember drowning? Or, almost drowning, since you're here…?"

"Sonic, seriously! What are you talking about!? You're making NO sense! NOTHING happened!!" Amy attempted to yell some sense into him. For all she could tell, Sonic had some major mental issues right now.

"Then…why the Hell…?" Sonic looked off into the distance.

_It doesn't make sense…What the Hell DID happen? Was it…no…I remember it vividly, I could feel everything, it COULDN'T be a dream…or…Oh…oh shit…_

Sonic realized what he had done. And the situation quickly changed yet again.

"Sonic, you haven't been yourself lately…Are you sure you're ok?" There was worry in the young hedgehog's voice.

"I…I don't know…" Sonic was now regretting ever coming to Amy's apartment in the first place. "I…Well, this is going to sound stupid…But I think it might have been a nightmare…"

"A nightmare…?" Amy replied with a little doubt.

"Yeah…But this one was…real…I could see and feel everything in perfect detail…"

"Sonic…" Amy started to sound disappointed. She thought that he was just going on with his plan to get to her heart. But then she looked a little closer at his eyes and saw that he wasn't lying.

"I'm serious Amy! I…" Sonic lowered his voice, "I thought you were dead…" His eyes began to well up with tears, but the young hedgehog managed to hold them back.

Seeing Sonic like this gave Amy a feeling of sympathy, but this time mixed with a little indifference. She knew how bad it must have been, but the Sonic she knew would never let something like this get him down…

"Sonic…" Amy started off calmly. "It was only a dream…" She was trying to cheer him up without worsening the situation.

"No, it wasn't Amy. It was…too real." Sonic was now starting to scare himself. The mere thought of his mind creating such a realistic Hell like he experienced was too much.

"Sonic, get a hold of yourself. I'm alive, aren't I?"

"…Yeah…"

"Then whatever happened HAD to be a dream, considering I don't have a CLUE what you're talking about…" Amy was quickly losing sight of her 'pain-free' goal. Even though she tries to be wise, she IS only 15 years old, which means she can slip up…

"I…I know. It's just that…Well, I saw you die in front of me while I was trying to save you. You drowned, and I nearly did too…I felt so horrible that I wanted to die as well." Sonic was now letting a few of his tears run slowly down his cheeks. "I came over here and didn't think you'd be here…I was so lost and scared…" He was now shaking a little. "But when I saw you, it was as if you were an angel straight from heaven, here to heal all my wounds…"

Amy looked at Sonic and almost wanted to cry. Love had brought him to this…A love for her. At first, she was angry at him for letting these dreams get to him so deeply. But that quickly faded into a hate for herself.

_If I wouldn't have let go, then right now he wouldn't be like this, I could be comforting him…but…I did let go. _That feeling quickly faded as well._ I let go and I meant it. And now look at him…This isn't the Sonic I know…_

"Sonic." Amy said flatly.

He quickly took a breath and held his tears. "Sorry…"

"Listen, Sonic…" Amy took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "You…You need to let this go."

"Wh…what?" Sonic said a little shakily. _What does she mean by that…?_

"Take a look at yourself. The Sonic I know isn't huddled into a shaking mess because of dreams he had…The Sonic I know doesn't let anything get him down. You're not yourself at all…" Amy was trying not to really hurt him, but she knew it would. There are just some things you can't avoid. _It's for the best…_ She thought.

"Amy, I'm fine. I've just been having a bad week…" Sonic started.

"Try a bad month!" Amy blurted out. "Sonic, seriously…" She tried to calm herself again. "I want you to let go."

"Let go of…what…?" Sonic knew what she was going to say though…he just wanted to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him again.

"Let go of…well, of your love."

His heart sunk. He was right about what he thought she was going to say, and he regretted thinking it in the first place.

"Amy…Please don't say that…I love you is all…" Sonic hoped he could save it somehow.

"And…well, I really don't like it when you say that either…" Amy replied grimly.

"A…Amy…Don't say that…please…" He knew that it was a lost cause…but he would hold on as long as he possibly could.

Amy took in a deep breath. _Remember, I'm doing this for his own good…_

"I'm sorry Sonic…But you've just let yourself go too much. This is consuming your entire life…"

"It is not! Please Amy, you have to understand what it's like to love!" Sonic said quickly without thinking.

"…I do, Sonic. You know damn well I do…" Amy said very coldly. The young hedgehog is usually not quick to anger when arguing with her friends, because she likes to keep their friendship. But when it comes to that horrible part in her life, the gloves are off.

Sonic realized this, and quickly tried to fix it. "I'm…I'm sorry…" The blue hedgehog said quietly.

Amy calmed herself once more, and continued on. "Just…Just please let it go. We can still be friends…"

Sonic looked at her with teary eyes, as if to say 'Please don't'. But Amy's mind was set. It has to be done…

"I'll walk you home if it makes you feel better…" Amy tried to ease the pain.

"Y…Yes please…" Sonic was feeling horrible right now._ Please let this just be another nightmare…I don't want to let go…_

The two hedgehogs left Amy's apartment building and walked down the street towards Sonic's. Sonic was fighting back tears the entire time. Amy felt bad for putting him through this; she genuinely did not want to hurt his feelings. She just wanted to free him of this burden and have the old Sonic back.

The entire time they walked, Sonic felt as if he would die. Every step towards his house felt like a part of his soul was being torn and left behind. Every step shattered another dream.

_This can't be happening…All I did was love…I just wanted a little love in return…Is that so bad? Apparently it's too much to ask for…I just wanted to love…Wanted her to love me back…I'm such an idiot…Why…oh god WHY!? I know we were meant for each other…I can feel it…_

The two finally reached Sonic's apartment. The grief-stricken hedgehog's own thinking didn't make his condition any better; he didn't want to let go at all.

They walked inside and Amy sat Sonic on his couch. She looked at his teary eyes, which returned sorrow and pain. _Oh god…_ She thought. _I feel so bad for doing this to him…But…It has to be done. It's taking over his life. Any further, and he would have gone completely insane…_

"It will be ok Sonic…I'm still your friend, right?" Sonic replied by burying his face into his arms, tears beginning to escape his control. He was too heartbroken to listen to reason.

"Listen Sonic, you should get some rest. If you're still who I think you are deep down, you'll be back to your old self in no time…"

Not really knowing what else to say, and thinking that Sonic wasn't even listening due to his grief, she decided that it would be a good time to leave. But when she started to walk, she was cut short by a big hug from Sonic.

"Please…Amy…Don't leave me here…" Sonic was beginning to sob. "I…I've never felt so alone…Just please, stay with me…I'll do anything…" His sobbing began to grow; the emotional turmoil his heart and mind was going through was the worst he had ever experienced.

A tear hit the ground. But it wasn't Sonic's. Amy pitied the poor hedgehog, but she didn't turn back. The sight of him in that amount of pain caused by her would be too much to handle.

Instead, Amy just slowly unwrapped Sonic's arms from herself, and calmly said, "…It's better this way. You'll see."

And with that, she left. Sonic couldn't believe his ears. _My life is over…That's it._ He ran to his bed, and cried long and hard. His entire world just crashed around him, and it didn't look like he could get out of this one.

Amy wasn't having too good of a time either. She had just completely rejected Sonic in a way she didn't think she could manage. As she sat in her soft bed, she thought over what she had done.

_I…I was too hard on him. I should have let him down easier…I feel so bad…I didn't know I had that kind of raw…power…Just to end something like that…I don't like it…I should go back and…No. No, I can't. Not only will he probably not accept it, but I meant what I said…he was being consumed by that love, there was nothing else in his life. I like a guy who's carefree and always happy…I…I…_

Amy stopped in the midst of her thoughts. Something just occurred to her.

_I…I did exactly what he did to me three years ago…_

Amy started to feel sick. She got up and ran to her bathroom, lifted the lid on the toilet, and puked the contents of her stomach up. She took a few heavy breaths, and puked once more. After breathing heavily for a little bit, she flushed it down and crept slowly back to her bed.

_I can't believe what I've done…_

Amy began to feel sick again…


	15. The Beginning of the End

_I don't know where I come up with this stuff, but something recently inspired me. What was it? I don't know. Let's go though._

_Chapter 15_

_"You're sick, just like the rest of those disgusting creatures. I hope you burn in Hell, you fucking bastard."_

_Amy took another swing with her Piko Piko Hammer. It found its mark right on Sonic's unprotected head, and returned a sickening crunch._

"_Hmph."_

_Amy slammed her hammer once more into Sonic, this time in the ribs. She had already broken a few, and this time she embedded it into his side. A few more cracked and blood flew up into her face, but she didn't care._

"_What's done is done."_

_She walked off and didn't give the act she just committed another thought._

Amy's eyes quickly shot open and she was breathing heavily. It only took a minute for her to realize she was in her room again. She began to calm down, but only slightly.

_That's the fifth nightmare I've had tonight…_

Ever since what she did to Sonic, she had been feeling horrible. She felt sick to her stomach, and the guilt was eating her up. Even if it had only been 9 hours, Amy felt as if it had been an eternity.

"I'm sorry Sonic…" the teen hedgehog mumbled to herself, "I'm sorry I have to put you through this Hell…I'm a horrible person…" The poor girl closed her eyes tightly, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks. "I'm sorry…"

Another hour passed, and she drifted back to sleep yet again. And yet again, the guilt of Sonic's pain was turned into another horrifying nightmare.

--

The next morning, Sonic woke up very slowly. He decided to skip his morning run; he had no use for it any more. The usual light in his eyes were gone. He didn't care. The previous day had by far been his worse, and he couldn't take much more of it.

_Why…Just why…_

His tears had run out. He was past that. Now, he was indifferent. Cold. The blue hedgehog was nearly emotionless. He wanted it this way; he was sick of being sad. But deep down, a tearing sorrow was ripping him to shreds, bit by agonizing bit.

_Just let me die…I'm done._

There was a knock on Sonic's door, which was replied with a slow groan. He didn't want to answer it, he just wanted to lie there and cease to exist.

"…You know how to get in…If you're even worth coming in here…" Sonic eventually mumbled.

The visitor did know what to do. A few seconds later, the door fell to the ground.

"Sonic…?" The young fox called out into the apartment.

"Ugghhh…" Replied the bedridden hedgehog.

Tails began to slowly walk into Sonic's apartment. "I saw Amy crying yesterday, and when I asked why, she just said your name and ran…"

Sonic cringed. He didn't like hearing that Amy was sad…especially when it was because him.

Tails found his friend lying in his bed. "Sonic, what happened?" Tails asked with much concern. All around Sonic's bed were pictures of Amy from one point in time or another. There were also many scraps of paper with words such as "Forgive me" or "Lost" scratched into them.

Sonic turned to see his friend, and his eyes were bloodshot and his fur completely messed up. "Not now Tails…"

"Sonic…What happened!?" Tails was beginning to feel scared. He didn't like where this was going at all…

Sonic just rolled back over and sighed. "It's nothing…"

"If it was nothing, then why are you like this? What's with all these papers…?" The two-tailed fox held up a piece of paper that said "Amy" on it.

"CAN YOU NOT TAKE A HINT!?" Sonic lashed out. "I'M WORTHLESS!! AND SHE HATES ME!! NOW PLEASE!!" his green eyes began to well up in tears as he worked himself up, "PLEASE…Just…just leave…" Tears now ran hot down his face. Although indifferent before, he was now thinking again, so the emotions came back.

Tails stared at Sonic with regret, sorrow, pity, and shame. _I should have known…How could I be so ignorant?_

"Sonic…" Tails was now crying slightly as well. Seeing his best friend in so much pain was too much. "Sonic, please…"

"…Please what?" Sonic mumbled.

"…I don't know…" the young fox replied, his sorrow growing, "I just want things to be like before…I want to go on adventures, have fun with you, hang out and be happy…I…I'm scared about you…"

Sonic stared at his wall, facing away from his friend. _That's not going to happen, I'm sorry…_

"Tails, please…I want you to just forget about me, it's over…"

"DON'T SAY THAT!!" Tails burst out in tears. He didn't want to even think about just leaving Sonic like this. "It's never over until you give up!! You're Sonic the Hedgehog! You've made it through countless impossibilities!! You can do this!! Please!! The Sonic that saved us all countless times can't be beaten!!"

There was a pause in the conversation as Tails sobbed a little and Sonic took in his words.

"…I'm not the Sonic you know…not any more…And I give up." He mumbled quietly.

Tails heard this and froze in disbelief.

"Please…I'm done with life…just let me die…"

"Sonic…" Tails said quietly. He sat on the edge of his friend's bed and gave him a brotherly hug, tears now running freely down his face. "Please don't…If you die, I…I don't know what I'll do with myself…Amy will probably be even more sad than she was yesterday; she might even kill herself…I might kill myself…the world would be doomed if Eggman struck again…Just…Just…" Tails was running out of ideas to try and keep Sonic alive, as well as the will to continue his speech. He felt as if his words were doing nothing, as if he was fighting an already lost battle.

Sonic, on the other hand, was listening carefully. He let Tails cry into his shoulder; he didn't want to live with hurting him as well as Amy. Sonic also knew how Tails looked up to him as a big brother, so he decided to just let him have his moment.

_I'm racked with enough guilt…I'm sorry buddy…this is why I'm a horrible guy…none of you have done anything to deserve someone as horrible as I am…_

After much deliberation in his mind, Sonic eventually put one hand between Tails' ears, ruffled his fur, and got up.

"If Amy asks, tell her I'm sorry…" He mumbled to his pal. He left without doing anything else.

Tails sat there, now very confused and still sad. _Where's he going? I hope he's not going to… _Tails cringed at his own thoughts. _…Commit suicide…_

--

Sonic ran out of Station Square at blinding speeds. He didn't care where, he just ran. And ran. And ran. He ran until the Sun went down, and he collapsed from sheer exaustion under a nearby tree.

Sonic had run into a dense forest and was now completely lost. He didn't seem to notice though; he just had to get away.

_I'm sorry Amy…I'm sorry for ruining your life…I'm sorry for not listening…I'm sorry for failing you…I'm sorry for…for everything…_

The blue hedgehog began to openly cry again.

_I've ruined everything I've worked for…Everything…I'm sorry…I'm a pathetic failure…_

Everything in the world seemed to be against him now. And what made it worse was that means Amy was against him as well.

_Amy…I love you…And I always will…No matter how much pain…No matter the price…I will always love you…_

He looked up at the night sky and saw a faint glimmering star. It was still early enough that there weren't many out yet. Sonic decided he would make a wish.

_I wish that me and Amy…no. No I don't. I wish…I just wish she lives a happy and safe life…I wish for her to have eternal bliss…I don't care about me…I'm not worth it anymore._

Thoughts like that aren't something that someone as carefree as Sonic would ever think. So when Sonic told his friend that he wasn't himself anymore, he had almost told the truth. Almost.

Sonic cried himself into a sleep that night…

And Amy, after hearing the whole story from Tails, did as well…

They fell asleep at the same time…

They both regretted doing what they had done…

They both just wanted to see each other, for whatever reason.

And they both would.


	16. Love and Hatred

_Today's issue has been brought to you by energy drinks, old Nintendo and Sega games, staying up 'till 2 a.m., and the magic of the Internet. Rock on intarwebz._

_Chapter 16_

"_Sonic? Is that you?"_

"_Amy…"_

_The two stood in a small room. There were two chairs, and no apparent way in or out. Nether hedgehog questioned how they got there, however._

"_Sonic…" Amy started to say. But she was cut off by the other hedgehog in the room._

"_Amy, listen…I'm sorry…I didn't mean to ruin everything…I'm such a fool…" Sonic looked down in shame._

"_No, I should be the sorry one," Amy replied, "I…I acted to hastily. I was just frustrated with other things, and you came at the wrong moment…I'm so sorry Sonic…" Amy also looked down into her lap._

_Both hedgehogs stayed silent for some time. Then Sonic got the courage to speak up._

"_Listen…I'm sorry for not being myself lately…You know how love changes someone, I'm sure…"_

"…_Yeah…" Amy quietly replied._

"_It's just…well, I love you…So much…You're the first girl I've ever liked this much. I…I just didn't know what to do with myself. What to say, what to do…I'm sorry…I messed it up so bad…"_

"_I didn't do too great either Sonic…" Amy explained, "I loved you so greatly, I really did…And…Well…When I let go, I expected it to all end. I thought that was it, we'd just be friends. But when you came back and loved me…It just…Just threw everything into a confusing spiral. You mixed my emotions so badly, I should have had more control…I'm sorry…"_

_The two looked up and stared into each other's eyes for a minute. Then, they got up and gave each other a warm hug._

"_Please, come back Sonic…" Amy whispered as a tear fell onto Sonic's shoulder._

"…_I will…For you…" Sonic replied quietly._

_The two sat back in their chairs and faced each other._

"_I just want your friendship back…" Sonic pleaded from his heart._

"_You have my friendship, and you always did…" Amy reassured him. "Nothing will ever change that…"_

"…_Thank you…" Sonic said to her. Then it was his turn to support her. "I…I'm not going to be selfish enough to ask you to return my love…but I just want you to know that I'm here for you, whenever you need me…I'm here…"_

"_That means a lot to me Sonic…I'm glad to have you as a friend. I really am." Amy smiled at him._

_Upon hearing this, Sonic's mood changed. He felt as if a great burden had been lifted off his shoulders, as if his very soul had been renewed by his love._

"…_I'm glad to have you as a friend too, Amy." Sonic returned her smile with one of his own. For the first time in some time, he was genuinely happy. This newfound joy caused him to begin to laugh a little._

_At first, it was just a small chuckle, and Amy was a little confused. But soon after, the laughter was contagious, and Amy joined in. The two laughed louder and harder until they were out of their chairs and tearing up from it all. They managed to get up and give each other another hug, this time filled with joy instead of regret._

_They stayed in that hug for quite some time, just laughing and enjoying the end of what seemed like an eternal spiral of sorrow and depression. What finally separated them, however, killed what joy had been created by the two._

_Amy suddenly froze and her eyes shot wide open. Sonic, ever alert and protective of her, quickly noticed._

"_Amy!?" He yelled in a rushed manner._

"…_Help…!" She quietly pleaded, and then she was gone. Amy just disappeared right there, and there was not a trace left of her._

"_AMY!?" Sonic screamed loudly. "AMY!!" The blue hedgehog was now very scared. He didn't know what to do, where she went._

Sonic woke up in a flash and jumped to his feet instantly out of instinct. "AMY!!" He screamed into the forest. It was still late at night, but he didn't care. He ran off in the direction he came from, towards Station Square.

--

Meanwhile, in Station Square itself, Tails laid unconscious. He had been knocked out by nerve gas that had flooded mysteriously into his workshop. The Tornado III was left with its hull open, and a welding tool was locked in the on position. It was burning out its supply harmlessly. There was something that creeped its way into the circuitry of the third Tornado, however…

Up at the Master Emerald shrine, Knuckles also was laying useless where he was once sleeping peacefully. The Master Emerald itself had been lifted off and was loaded into a medium sized ship. But this wasn't the last stop…

"LET GO OF ME!!"

A robotic claw lifted Amy right out of her bed, after crashing through her wall. Having what it had come for, the ship left at blinding speeds. Before anyone who could do anything would ever wake up from their forced sleep, it would be long gone. That is, anyone except Sonic.

The blue blur zipped across the landscape faster than he had run ever before. He broke the sound barrier easily and continued to speed up. He came close to about halfway to the next mach speed before he stopped accelerating.

It only took him about an hour to get back to town, and he immediately figured out what happened. All the cars on the street had either crashed into something or just stopped moving, and there was a very quiet, eerie feeling. Nobody was moving. Sonic quickly ran to the first person he could find and checked her pulse.

"Still alive…" He mumbled. "They're not dead…just knocked out." Sonic stood up and ran to Amy's apartment building. He didn't even have to get very close to see the gaping hole in the wall.

"Amy's room…EGGMAN!!" He cursed to himself. _If I hadn't have run off like that…No, this isn't the time…_

Sonic knew what the evil Doctor had done: He had taken his love. That pissed Sonic off to a degree that he had never come close to.

But, thinking of Amy, Sonic decided not to be rash this time. _I can't screw this up…I can't fail her again. _The blue hedgehog ran to Tails' place first, seeing how he had the Tornado III.

--

When he arrived at the young fox's house, he found that nobody was answering the house door.

"He's probably at work in the workshop…He'll do that no matter how late it is…" Sonic mumbled to himself. He zipped over to the workshop and walked in. He found his friend on the ground in front of his invention, and a welding torch burning next to him. The hedgehog quickly ran over and shut off the torch, and then he checked his friend for signs of life.

"…He's still alive too…What the Hell is going on…? Probably more of Eggface's work…Damn. I guess I'm in this by myself…"

Sonic looked around and tried to find the bolt machine that he had seen Tails use so many times. He found it and picked up the panel that had been removed. The hedgehog was no mechanic, but the machine wasn't too hard to use. He just placed the panel back into its place where it interlocked with the others, and pointed the machine at a bolt-hole and pressed the button. A bolt instantly shot out in a manner that instantly locked it into place very tightly.

"Whoa. Impressive…" Sonic remarked at the efficiency of Tails' equipment. He bolted in all of the places and placed the machine back where he found it. After moving his friend out of the way, Sonic opened up the side door of the craft and climbed in.

Seating himself in the cockpit, Sonic was a little lost on what to do to fly the machine.

"Umm…This button looks like a take-off button…"

Sonic pressed a big green button. The windshield instantly was covered in metal, and a large targeting monitor came down in from of Sonic's face. A joystick was jammed into his hand, and he was looking into a crosshair.

"…Not the button." He pressed it once more, and all went back to normal.

"…This one then." He flipped a few switches and pressed the button next to them. The engines started up and roared to life.

"YES!!" Sonic yelled in joy. "Say your prayers, Eggman!!"

Taking hold of the controls, he pushed the throttle slightly and rolled the plane out of the workshop. Sonic drove it shakily until he found a long road. He then jammed the throttle up as hard as he could.

"Here it goes…!"

Sonic had a little piloting experience from the original Tornado, but nothing like this. Still, taking off couldn't have been TOO hard…

He managed to pull up just barely before he hit a building. Flying a little shakily, he flew around the city once.

"Where is his damned base…?" Sonic was now starting to see a few flaws in his plan. Still determined however, he started to fly off in the direction that the hole in Amy's wall was pointing.

_Knowing him, he just took her, turned around and left…_

As soon as he started in that direction, he felt something. An ever-burning determination; one even stronger than he had before. He knew that this was the right way somehow. He just knew.

_Amy…I'm coming for you…Hold on…_

Sonic flipped open the little glass case that he had seen Tails use in his demonstrations to him and his friends. It was labeled "Transform". Sonic punched the one with the picture of the attack fighter and held on tight.

The plane slowed down, but stayed up in the air. Hinges unlocked and panels went back, and the craft morphed and bended its shape into a more aerodynamic shape, as well as revealing the turbo engine. After the transformation, the speed picked back up, the Tornado III now going twice as fast.

_Stay strong Amy…I'll save you…_

All that was on Sonic's mind was Amy. His love for her and hatred for Eggman drove him on; he was no longer the huddled, broken down mess he was hours before. The blue hedgehog had caught his second wind in this crazy situation, and he wasn't going to stop for anything.

_I love you, Amy…_

Sonic's ears perked up a little.

_Did I just hear something…?_

Faintly, after he had said he loved Amy in his thoughts, he had heard a reply.

_Please hurry…_

…_I will…_

Sonic flipped open another small hatch on the control panel, which revealed a small red button. He promptly pressed it, and pushed the throttle up as far as he could. The extra engine kicked in, and the Tornado III shot to speeds that could possibly out-run Sonic himself.

But then, events changed for the worse. The extra engine sputtered and cut out, as well as two of the 4 primary thrusters.

"…That can't be good…"

A mechanical voice began to speak to Sonic.

"SECONDARY BOOSTER OFFLINE. ENGINE 1 IS OFFLINE. ENGINE 3 IS OFFLINE."

Going as fast as it was, the craft immediately encountered problems staying in the air smoothly. It wavered and dipped down, as well as lost a lot of speed due to its erratic movement. Still, it was going extremely fast, fast enough to kill someone if it were to crash…

"Shiiiiiiiiiit!!" Sonic yelled as he tried to maintain control. Unfortunately, the Tornado III dipped down too quickly and the bottom wings struck the ground and immediately were stripped off the plane.

A red light began to flash inside the cockpit, and the computerized voice began to speak again.

"FINS 3 AND 4 OF ATTACK MODE HAVE BEEN LOST. HULL DAMAGE IS AT 20 PERCENT."

"DAMN!! NOT GOOD!!" Sonic was sweating and trying to just stay alive now. But it was too late; the plane wouldn't go too much further.

It struck the ground yet again, and Sonic was jarred so much that he let go of the controls and lost all control of the craft.

"HULL DAMAGE IS AT 35 PERCENT."

It struck the ground again, and the Tornado III began to spiral.

"HULL DAMAGE IS AT 40 PERCENT."

"AAAAMMMYYYY!!" Sonic screamed as he closed his eyes and the plane crashed into the ground once more, this time skidding for at least half a mile before coming to a stop.

"HULL DAMAGE IS AT 70 PERCENT. ENGINE 2 IS OFFLINE. ENGINE 4 IS OFFLINE. CRAFT IS UNFIT TO FLY. TRANSFORMATION ABILITY IS OFFLINE."

Sonic wasn't moving after the impact…


	17. Deception and Backstabbing

_Sorry about the wait, I was seriously busy. School finals and stuff. Bleh._

_Chapter 17_

"Wake up, little hedgehog…!"

Sonic's head hurt immensely. He tightened his eyes at the light that he could see through his eyelids.

_My head…what happened…?_

He tried to sit up, but was too exhausted.

"I know you're still alive, wake up!"

_Shut up, I'm in pain Egg…egg…_

Everything came back all of a sudden. The people in the city, the Tornado crashing, his mission.

_Amy…!_

Sonic's eyes shot open, and he was staring at a dark figure with a very bright light behind it. He'd know that shadow anywhere.

_Eggman…_

Sonic tried to growl a little, but he really was in pain. He tried to move, but he was tied down, and that hurt as well. All he could do was sit there.

"Why thank you for joining us, my little annoyance!"

The hedgehog's eyes began to adjust to the bright light, and he saw himself in a room with the evil doctor standing in front of him. Sonic was strapped to a table that was upright, not laying down. All around were little robots performing various tasks; a few carrying things to and fro, another pressing buttons on a control panel, a few more monitoring surveillance screens. A typical day in the base of a madman.

"I bet you're wondering why I haven't killed you yet, or why you're even alive from that crash. Oh, you weren't going to live, but I had the heart to save you. Aren't I a nice person? Ho ho ho ho!"

Gathering all the strength he had, Sonic managed to mumble out a few words.

"Wh…Where…Amy…Where's…Amy…?"

"Ah, the little girl. Yes. I'm sorry to say, dear hedgehog, but she hates you. Oh well, that's what you get for being such a weakling!" Eggman laughed heartily as he watched Sonic's eyes widen.

_No…It can't be…!_

"You don't believe me? Here, ask her yourself!" The doctor motioned towards a door, which opened right on cue. Out came Amy, completely unharmed and actually quite happy looking. That quickly faded as she saw Sonic, however. Joy turned into a sour frown.

"Eggman, why do I have to talk to THIS clod…?"

"Oh come now Amy, Sonic here doesn't believe me. Will you show him how much you care about him?"

Sonic lay there in complete shock. _Amy…how is she just free like that…? And speaking so casually with…HIM!?_

"Ugh, fine…" Amy crossed her arms and glared at Sonic.

_Why…how…please don't Amy…I know that you don't hate me…_

"Sonic, I never want to see you again. Fucking wimp." Amy spat at his feet, then stormed out of the room.

_No…It's…it's just a nightmare…please…Oh god, PLEASE no…_

Seeing his love in that kind of fury over him broke his heart. Just plain shattered it. The poor hedgehog fought back tears, but Eggman saw through this very easily. Instead of going straight for the kill, he decided to toy around with his victim a little longer.

"You see, Sonic? The girl no longer holds any respect for you. But it's ok, you won't have to suffer for much longer." An evil grin flashed across the doctor's face.

"…Screw you…" Sonic managed to get out. He was getting used to the pain of speaking, at least.

"I'm sorry, but just because you lost HER doesn't mean you need ME." The doctor laughed long and hard. A robot stopped to laugh with him, but a fellow drone slapped him across the head and told him to get back to work. The order was followed without question.

_What a bastard…How could he warp Amy like that…?_ _It can't be real…but…My god…_

"You have a big day ahead of you, hedgehog. I suggest you get some rest." Eggman left the room without another word. He snapped, and all the robots left to room with him. The door closed shut, and the lights went out. The only lights left were a few small ones from surveillance cameras.

Left alone in the dark, all the hedgehog could do was think over what had just happened.

_Eggman…Damn him to Hell!! How could he take control of Amy like that!? Or…maybe…Maybe Amy didn't get controlled…NO. I can't even THINK like that…But…Oh, god no. Please no…_

The thought wouldn't leave him now that he had thought of it.

…_Maybe she was doing it out of her own will…_

Sonic cringed. He didn't want to think that at all, but…there it was. He thought it over and over again, until the recent events mixed with his previously broken heart had him convinced.

_Why Amy…It can't be…_

A silent tear fell down the hedgehog's cheek. His heart was breaking yet again.

--

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!! HOW COULD YOU BE SO COLD!?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, my dear."

Amy struggled to get out of her restraints. She was filled with extreme rage right now; enough to kill the doctor where he stood. She had witnessed the whole thing live on a monitor that was right in front of her. A door opened, and another Amy walked into the room.

"The job is done, doctor." The free hedgehog said in a cold voice.

"Nicely done." Eggman replied with a smile.

Amy glared at the imposter. "Sonic will never really believe that robot was me!"

The robot Amy walked slowly up to the real one. She looked at her and smirked.

"In a few hours, I'm all that's going to be left of you." The robot stared coldly into Amy's eyes.

"In a few seconds, I'm going to rip your fucking head off!" Amy was still struggling, but to no avail.

The robotic Amy narrowed her eyes; then slapped the girl square across the face.

"Pathetic."

The copy walked off, leaving Amy momentarily stunned.

"Tsk tsk, you must learn to stay in line dear girl!" Eggman chuckled before following the robotic Amy out of the room.

Amy attempted to get out for a little longer, but soon gave up.

"Sonic…" She mumbled quietly under her breath, "I don't hate you…please…"

She watched the figure of the blue hedgehog taking in irregular breaths. Amy knew he was crying; she would have too if something like that happened.

"Be strong Sonic…I believe in you…"

Amy painfully, but surely, drifted off into a tormented sleep.

"_Sonic…please…You have to listen to me…"_

_"You've broken my heart one too many times. Please, just…just leave." Sonic began to run off._

"_Sonic, wait…!" Amy tried to run after him._

_Seeing this, Sonic just sped up. "I said leave me alone! You hate me anyway!"_

_Amy still tried to keep up, but she tripped in the process. Down she came, hitting the ground hard and skidding a few inches. She barely sat up and looked at the blue blur speeding off through the tears in her eyes. Bruised and cut, Amy slowly began to choke out sobs._

"_I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"_

_Off in the distance, Sonic stopped. Something was wrong, he knew it. But he didn't want to help her. "She hates me, why should I help her…?"_

_Still, there was love left in his heart. A few moments later of thinking it over, Sonic turned back and ran to see what was wrong._

_Amy collapsed back on the ground and was sobbing. "I'm so sorry Sonic…please come back…"_

_The blue hedgehog stopped in front of her and took in the situation. After a moment, he decided to speak._

"…_Amy…are you ok?" He said slowly._

_The pink hedgehog looked up through her tears, and shook her head. Sonic sat next to her, feeling sorry for Amy._

"_Sonic…You have to listen…" Amy started, "It…it wasn't me…"_

"_So you want me to believe that the Amy I saw wasn't you? Makes PERFECT sense." He added lots of sarcasm into that last sentence._

"_Please, I'm not joking…" Amy began to sob again, "It was one of Eggman's tricks…"_

"_Prove it." The blue hedgehog said flatly. "If you mean it, prove it."_

_Amy struggled to sit up; she was still in pain. When she finally was up, she looked into Sonic's emerald eyes for a moment. She then closed her eyes, leaned in, and gently kissed his lips._

_Sonic's eyes widened and his heart stopped. In that moment, all time froze, and feelings of love, confusion, joy, regret, fufillment and pity all flowed freely through the hedgehog's body, making for an interesting mix._

_Amy pulled back from the brief kiss and looked into his eyes again. "Do you believe me now…?"_

_Sonic blinked a few times and just looked at her in shock. Then, he slowly nodded his head._

_The teenage girl hugged her hero warmly and caringly. "I'm sorry for what you had to go through, not only what just happened, but what I've put you through myself…I have no right to play with your emotions and expect you to forgive me."_

"…_I forgive you."_

_Amy looked up into his eyes in disbelief for a moment. Then she softly smiled, and tears of joy began to run down her cheeks. She held onto Sonic tightly._

"_Thank you…Thank you so much…" Then something struck in her mind. "Sonic…We still have to get out of the base…"_

"_Don't worry, I'll take care of that." Sonic smirked lightly. "It's what I do best!"_

_A small smile came onto Amy's face. "You might just have deserved that kiss for more than showing I don't hate you…"_

_Sonic stopped and was about to say something, when suddenly both hedgehogs were pulled sharply away into nothingness._

"Wake up, little pests…!" A voice boomed.


	18. New Problem

_Rockband plus summer plus TF2 plus lakeside fun equals me not having a work ethic. Isn't that great?_

_Chapter 18_

The two hedgehogs were lying next to each other in a spotlight. Everything was dark outside of that circle of light; all they could see was each other.

"Sonic…" Amy began while still laying down. "I don't hate you…"

Sonic, still half asleep, thought partially that he was still sleeping. "You've already proven that to me, Amy…" he mumbled.

"Wait, you…but it was just a…how did you…?" Amy began to wonder. _Was that more than just a dream…? _Her thoughts were cut off when a loud, booming voice shot through the air.

"Welcome, Sonic, to my beautiful playground!"

The spotlight shut off, and the rest of the room lit up. It was enormous; more like an entire fortress. Sonic sat up slowly, and helped Amy sit up as well.

"Sonic, did you have a dream where we…we…" Amy was cut off in sheer awe when she actually took a look around where she was.

"This is too familiar…" The blue hedgehog began to ponder. "I've seen this before…it looks like…"

"…Like what…?" Amy asked quietly.

"…Scrap Brain…" Fear went coldly across Sonic's face.

Amy looked puzzled at first, but then she remembered Sonic mentioning something about that name when he explained his first major adventure against the doctor.

_Scrap Brain…Wasn't that the first fortress that the evil doctor operated out of…?_ Amy thought to herself.

True enough; it was just like a flashback to the nightmares of the hedgehog's past; complete with trapdoors, giant saws, electric nodes, and fire spewing pipes.

"My god…" The pink hedgehog barely breathed out. "What are we going to do…?"

Sonic turned to her and looked directly into her eyes with a grim expression. "What we have to do to get to that madman." The hero stood up. "Knowing him, he's probably waiting past all of those traps, then he's going to spring an ambush of some sort, then he'll attack with some new contraption…"

Amy stood up and held onto Sonic's arm. "It can't be that hard though, you've done it before…right…?"

"That's what he wants us to think. Come on." Sonic began to walk, and Amy followed. "If you get scared Amy, I'm right here with you. We can stop and rest if you need to also…" He tried to reassure his love, whom he thought was terrified at this point.

But instead, Amy put on a small smile. "I'm going to fight with you. You go as fast as you need to, I'll keep up. You do whatever it takes, I'm here with you 'till the end." Amy let go of Sonic's arm and took a firm stance.

The blue hedgehog couldn't believe what he saw at first. But then he smiled back at her. "Thank you Amy. That means more than you know." He then turned in the direction that he believed would get him to the end and put on his trademark smirk. "Let's get to it!" Sonic said with enthusiasm, grabbing Amy's hand and picking up speed.

He went a little slow at first, but sensing that Amy really did mean she would try her best, he sped up to a nice "slow" run. Amy was keeping up barely, but still keeping up. Sonic jumped over a panel on the ground, and Amy followed suit. She was a little late though, and the step she used to jump made the panel fall through the floor, revealing a deep pit. Although a little surprised, she made it and kept going.

"You alright, Amy?" Sonic hastily asked, seeing how his heart nearly jumped through his throat when he heard the panel fall.

"I'm fine, keep going." Amy told him. Sonic nodded and continued on. After a little bit more running, the two hedgehogs began to near some giant wheels suspended in the air.

"Amy, jump on to them and roll, then push off when I do." Sonic commanded, as he jumped into the air. Amy nodded and followed suit.

As soon as she stepped onto the edge of the wheel, it was as if gravity was changed to point toward the center of it, not down like it should. Sonic had done this before, so he was used to it, but Amy had a little trouble at first. She used her hedgehog instincts and rolled into a ball behind Sonic. The two gained speed, seeing how the wheel was rotating, and Sonic pushed off and flew into the air quite high. Amy hastily did the same, and went flying.

She did this a little early, however. Sonic jumped at the top of the wheel, and in her excitement, combined with her being behind him, she jumped slightly before.

Sonic landed on a platform gracefully, and looked back for Amy. He quickly saw what was going on, and looked to where Amy was going to land.

A giant saw.

"AMY!!"

Sonic leaped into the air and flew towards his love. All time seemed to stop in that moment, yet it also seemed to pass extremely quickly at the same time. _I have to keep her safe, no matter what!_

Amy had realized her mistake by now, and was starting to panic. "SONIC!! HELP!!" She screamed when she heard the noises of the saw. She closed her eyes tightly and braced herself for the impact.

Right before she hit the spinning saw blade, Sonic pushed her out of the way. But that doesn't mean nothing hit the saw…

BZZZZZZZZZ!!

Flesh and blood went flying as Sonic tumbled to the ground. The sudden shock of pain stunned him; so much that he couldn't even scream. Amy had landed shakily, but she was alright, save a few bruises.

"Oh, thank you so much Sonic…" She began to say. But instead of hearing the usual 'No problem, Amy!' or 'It was nothing,' there was no response.

"…Sonic…?"

Amy turned and looked for her hero. She saw his huddled figure lying not too far off, as well as a growing pool of crimson around him.

"SONIC!?" Amy screamed in shock, tears building up in her jade eyes. She ran quickly over to him and fell to her knees. She looked and saw a huge gash down his arm, and it was bleeding quite quickly. This terrified her beyond anything she had ever felt.

"SONIC!!" Amy cried out, tears flowing hot down her cheeks. She held the hedgehog's head and tried to get a response from him. His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow.

"Oh, Sonic, this is all my fault…I'm so sorry…" Amy was crying freely now; she sincerely thought she had caused this. "If I hadn't of…of…" The poor girl couldn't even find the strength to continue talking.

The blue hedgehog's eyelids twitched slightly, and he turned his head over. Amy took in a sharp breath and held it.

"…Sonic…?" She asked quietly.

Sonic opened his eyes very slightly and winced through the pain. "Hey…Amy…You ok?" He asked shakily.

"I'm fine Sonic, thank you so much…But…"

It was very clear to Sonic that Amy was blaming herself, he had seen and felt the same kind of thing before.

"It's…AH…!" He winced from a sudden spike of pain. "…ok…It's ok…It's not…your fault…"

Amy, thinking he was just trying to make her feel better, began to cry a little heavier again. "Sonic, it IS my fault…If I hadn't have screwed up, you wouldn't be hurt…I'm a horrible friend…"

Sonic looked up into her jade eyes. "If you were…horrible…I wouldn't love you…" The blue hedgehog smiled lightly. "I love you…Amy Rose…"

Amy saw his eyes close and his head roll back over. His breathing got very light…He didn't move…

"Sonic…?" Amy said quietly, trying to assure that he was still alive.

No response.

"SONIC!?" The pink hedgehog yelled, now panicking.

No response.

"SONIC!!" Amy yelled out, before collapsing into a heap of sobbing and sorrow.

Still no response…


	19. Life and Death

_ Ok, I'm going to try and make it so you don't have to wait as long this time! (May or may not work, seeing how I won't have internet for a few days.)_

_Chapter 19_

Amy sobbed over Sonic's dying body. The bleeding had slowed, but unless it was stopped soon, it would be too late. She knew this, but had no idea what to do.

"Sonic…please…I'm so scared…don't leave me…" Amy sobbed out painfully. She had no idea where to go, what to do, even what to think. Everything had just crashed down around her.

After a few more moments of crying, time seemed to slow way down, and Amy's head was beginning to fill with a sudden memory…

_"Can't catch me!!" Amy yelled back, running as fast as she could between the trees._

"_That's what you say!!" Sonic yelled to her, picking up speed._

_Amy knew that he was going to get her, but it was fun to at least try. Besides, he would have to chase her for a change._

_The pink hedgehog tried to look back to see if Sonic was coming. 'Oh, he's gonna get me…!'_

_Not paying attention, a good sized rock caught Amy's foot. She immediately lost balance and fell over, skidding for a few feet. A sharp pain went all through the 12 year old's body as she was cut and bruised from the fall._

"_Amy…!" she heard a familiar voice call out worriedly to her. Sonic's voice. Her hero. Her love._

_He came to a stop and went down on one knee to see her up close._

"_Amy, are you alright!?" Sonic asked shakily as he saw the blood seeping down her face. There was dirt ground in all the cuts, and there were many of them._

_All the girl could manage to do was twitch her eyelids slightly, as well as let out a very soft groan. She had fallen hard, seeing how she had been running as fast as she could._

"_Hold on Amy, I'll fix this!" Sonic said with determination as he gently picked her up._

_Amy slipped in and out of consciousness. First there was her moving, then the sound of water in the distance. When she came to the third time, Sonic was attempting to swim with her across the river he previously just jumped over to get to where they were._

_She knew he couldn't swim, and it was very apparent that he was having trouble. Nonetheless, he was doing it._

"_I've got to…never give up…no matter what…!" Sonic was saying between gasps of breath._

_Amy felt like she wanted to help somehow, but she was exhausted and still winded from the incident. That, and she was slipping out of consciousness once more._

_When she finally came to, she was in a bed with Tails finishing putting a bandage on her arm._

"_Wha…where am I…?" Amy asked slowly._

"_Oh, Amy! Thank goodness you're alright…You're in Sonic's bed, he brought you here and told me how you got hurt in the forest."_

"_Sonic…" Amy said slowly. That was yet another time that he had saved her; yet another time that he had risked his life doing it._

"_Oh, here he comes now!" Tails said in his usually perky voice._

_The hedgehog walked into the room and looked very tired. He coughed once, and Tails whispered something to him. Sonic just shook his head and walked over to sit at the bedside._

"_Hey Amy…You doing alright?" He asked casually with a soft smile._

"_I'm fine, thanks…" Amy replied while sitting up._

"_Good…That's what I like to hear." He said with slight relief._

"_You didn't have to do that you know…I mean, swimming across the river…You could have left me there and ran to get help…"_

"_I'm not going to risk you like that. I did what I had to do. Even if I almost drowned doing it."_

_Amy gasped slightly. The thought of her love dying made her heart jump through her throat. "My god, are you ok!?"_

_Sonic just smirked. "I should be the one asking that. You were a mess; you've been in that bed for at least an hour."_

_Amy figured he was right, but still the thought lingered in her head._

'_He almost died trying to save me…He went straight through his own fears just for me…'_

_The girl leaned over and hugged Sonic as hard as she could without hurting herself._

"_Thank you Sonic…For everything you've done. I love you…"_

Time reverted to its normal flow. Amy stood up.

"No more crying…I repay him. I have to help him somehow. Even if it kills me…"

She looked at Sonic's arm. _I'm going to need to stop him from bleeding…but how…?_

She looked around for anything she could use. There was nothing but metal all around, nothing even remotely friendly looking anyway. Then she got an idea.

"If I could tie off above his arm, it should stop long enough for the blood to clot…but what am I going to use to tie it…?"

She knew there was nothing in the fortress that was made of something she could bend with her bare hands; that would be too easy. She stomped in anger and cursed under her breath as she was beginning to realize her plan wasn't going to work. She sat down and her dress fluffed down with her.

"What am I going to…to…"

Then it hit her.

_Cloth…That's easily tie-able…No, I can't just take off my clothes…!_

She looked over at Sonic, who wasn't getting any better.

…_but I have no choice._

Amy reached behind her back and got a hold of the zipper on her dress. She pulled it down and let the dress fall to her feet. Standing in nothing but her undergarments, she picked the dress up.

_But this is too big…I have to cut it somehow._

She attempted to tear the dress into smaller strips with her hands, but it was no use. She then tried to bite at it, but still nothing.

_Damn…! How am I going to do this!? THINK AMY, THINK!!_

She was getting a little frantic now; she knew Sonic wouldn't last much longer if she didn't do something quickly.

_God, I can't think over that damned buzzing of that…saw…!_

She looked up and saw the spinning blade that had slashed her friend's arm not to long ago.

"This better work…" Amy mumbled under her breath. She held her dress firmly, then threw it as hard as she could at the saw.

Pieces of fabric went flying in all directions; it looked like the dress simply exploded. She looked around for a piece that was still large enough to tie around Sonic's arm.

"Ah ha! This has got to work!" Amy exclaimed as she picked up a somewhat large piece. She rushed over to Sonic and immediately tied it above the gash on his arm. She pulled it tight and knotted it.

"Sonic, please be ok…" Amy mumbled to herself. She immediately saw a slow in blood loss, and sighed in relief.

_I'm not safe yet…_ She thought to herself. _I have to get him to a safe place…Or, at least, as safe as it can get in this Hell…_

She mustered all her strength and began to pick up Sonic. It was a little hard for her at first, seeing how she was tired herself, but she eventually managed to get him over her shoulder. After making sure he wouldn't fall, she began to walk in the direction they were heading in the first place.

Luckily, they had made it past the parts where one would require jumping; at least to an extent. More panels/wheels seemed to be in the far off distance. But Amy was faced with a new problem: electricity and conveyor belts leading to more saws.

The electricity zappers were fairly easy to dodge; all she had to do was time her sprints correctly, seeing how they went off in pulses. She made it past those without any problems. Next was a conveyor belt, moving forward. She stepped onto it and let the belt move her forward. Right when she thought that there wouldn't be any traps on this particular belt, the sounds of a saw starting ran through her ears.

Working on adrenaline and fear, Amy sprinted as fast as she could to the end of the belt. She made it past the saw just barely; she could feel the wind being whipped around by the blades as they came spinning downwards toward her.

"Whew…That was a close one…Gotta keep moving."

The next belt in front of her was going the opposite way she was trying to get. Even worse, there was another giant saw, this time stationary in the middle of the belt. It looked like the only way to get past it would be to jump over it.

"My god…Sonic wasn't kidding when he said this place was hell…" Amy quietly mumbled to herself. Despite her outward confidence, she really was terrified. The thought of losing Sonic, being alone in such a place of death, it was all so much for her. Almost a little TOO much.

"Well…I have to. No matter what. For him…"

Amy took a deep breath, backed up a few steps, held onto Sonic tight, and ran as fast as she could at the belt. When she stepped on it, she almost lost her balance, but managed to keep going. Running at full speed, she was gaining headway, although slowly. It was very tiring work, but she pressed onwards.

Nearing the blade, Amy was getting tired. She wasn't nearly as good at running as Sonic was, not to mention running against the conveyor belt AND having to carry Sonic. Still, she gathered all the strength she had for what she needed to do.

_Here it goes…!_ Amy thought to herself before pushing off to jump as high and as far as she could. The hedgehog soared over the blade, and landed barely safe on the other side. It took her a few steps to come to a stop, but when she did, she laid Sonic on the ground and sat next to him.

"Oh God…I don't know how he does this all the time…Sonic, you really are something…" Amy looked over at him. His face was pale.

"…Sonic…?" Amy quietly mumbled. She leaned in close to him and put a hand on his chest. He wasn't breathing…His heart was beating VERY slowly…

And then it stopped.

"SONIC!?" Amy screamed "SONIC!!"

The girl slumped down and began to sob and cry loudly and openly yet again. "Sonic, don't leave me!! Please!! I'm begging you!! Please don't go!! Pleeeaaaasssseeee….!"

Amy then realized how exhausted she really was, physically and emotionally. The day had been one heartbreak after another, and this was the final straw.

Closing her eyes, Amy laid her head gently on Sonic's chest and wrapped her arms around him.

_Still warm…Oh, Sonic…I'm sorry I was too late…I tried…I'm so sorry…_

Through sheer despair and sorrow, Amy's crying softened until it stopped; along with her heart.

--

Amy opened her eyes slowly. Everything was in a haze, and there was nothing around. She looked in every direction, but nothing caught her eye. Just darkness.

Then, she saw a faint flicker of light way off in the distance. She was curious, and had no other ideas on where to go, so she decided to start walking towards it. Then, for some reason she couldn't quite explain, she broke into a run. She sped up as fast as she could, and kept running.

When she couldn't run any longer, the light had grown a little bigger. She slowed to a walk, and pressed onwards.

_Where am I…? Why am I going to this light…? What IS that light…?_

Despite what she was thinking, Amy just kept walking. And walking. And walking.

After about 5 more minutes, she saw something in the distance: a small black speck in front of the light. Intrigued and impatient, Amy broke into a run again.

The speck grew bigger and bigger until it was visibly a noticeable shape. It looked like some sort of creature, could have been any creature at first. But as it grew closer, it looked more and more like…

"SONIC!!" Amy screamed when she realized who it was. She ran even faster until it was almost right in front of her.

"SOOOONNNNIIIICCC!!" She screamed even louder. He turned his head and was confused at first, but then Amy came running into him in a loving glomp.

They fell over and Sonic gasped, but when he realized it was Amy, he just smiled and hugged her back.

"Amy! What are you doing here?" The hedgehog asked in a confused yet relieved voice.

"I should be asking the same thing! Or rather, I should ask where IS here?" She replied, equally as happy to see her friend.

"I'm not quite sure…But I've got an idea. Not one I like, but if it's true…" Sonic looked towards the light that was now very large.

"What do you think it is…?"

"…I think we might be dead." There was a grim look on the hedgehog's face as he said it.

"…Dead…?" Amy said hesitantly.

"Yeah…I mean, shouldn't we be in Egghead's fortress? Or did you get us out to…wherever here is somehow?"

"No…No, I think you're right. Maybe we did die…But…" A shiver went down Amy's spine. "It's kinda creepy to think about…"

"I know…I don't like it. But what can we do? I mean, once someone dies, they can't really go back…" Sonic quietly whispered. He too, felt shivers down his spine.

"Well…There has to be something! I know it!" Amy said with determination. "We can't just give up! We still have to stop that madman!"

"Listen to yourself! We're DEAD! What else can we do?" Sonic blurted out at her.

"…I don't know…but…I just don't know…" Amy fell to her knees her eyes began to fill with tears. She wasn't crying because of sadness really; rather, of frustration.

"Listen Amy…" The blue hedgehog's tone changed into one of comfort and caring. "I know what you must be feeling…but we tried. We've been trying for years, and he just caught up to us this time. I want to go back as much as you do, but I know we can't." Sonic closed his eyes and held back some tears as well. "That's just how it goes."

Amy cried silently into her arms for a little bit. Then she got an idea…a faint one, but one she was willing to follow.

"Sonic…do you love me…?" Amy asked softly.

"…Of course." He replied.

"Have you ever heard of love being a powerful force?"

"I guess…"

Amy looked into Sonic's eyes. Both of their eyes sparkled in the light coming from the unknown source in front of them.

"Well…I love you too, Sonic." Amy whispered gently.

Sonic's eyes widened and his heart jumped. _Did she just say…?_

But before he could finish his though, Amy wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a loving kiss. Sonic followed suit and hugged her right back, as well as returned her kiss.

There, in the semi-darkness, the two shared their love for each other through their lips. The vein of love that Amy had been keeping sealed since that day three years ago was now flowing freely; and this time the love was returned joyfully by Sonic himself. Slowly, they began to fade out of the spirit world, guided by their love and passion, as well as their pure intentions to stop evil.

Both of their eyes shot open at the same time.


	20. Deeper into the Fortress

_Here at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, we would like to remind you that at the end of the testing, you will be baked, and then there will be cake._

_Chapter 20_

"WHAT!? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!"

"S-s-sir, I-I-I'm s-s-sorry, they j-j-just..."

"SILENCE!!"

Eggman slammed his fist down on the table, and the robot stood motionless; anything at all could mean his destruction now.

"Be gone! I have to think of what to do…NOW!!" The doctor screamed, and the robot ran off as quickly as it could.

"How did they do that!? They were DEAD!!"

Eggman had just begun to celebrate after seeing the two hedgehogs die, and stay dead for at least 15 minutes. But their sudden re-awakening bewildered him.

"Dead people don't just come back to life…What happened!?" The table was slammed several more times. "No matter…I still have the upper hand." He turned to the surveillance monitor that was watching the two hedgehogs at all times. "I assure you, hedgehog, you and the girl have not yet seen Hell. Not at all."

An evil smirk went across the doctor's face.

--

The two awoke, and Sonic immediately noticed that he wasn't where he fell, as well as Amy had her arms around him. She looked up into his eyes, and they looked at each other for all but a moment; they knew what had happened was no dream. Sonic put his arms around Amy and held her warmly for a moment. But then he remembered where they were, and what they were supposed to be doing.

"Amy, we need to get going…" He said quietly.

"Yeah…Let's do this." Amy replied with confidence.

Sonic helped his love to her feet and they began to walk. His arm had clotted over now and was no longer bleeding; he subconsciously took off the piece of Amy's dress that was wrapped on him. His arm still hurt, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

Sonic looked ahead and realized how far Amy and Sonic had really gone. There seemed to be not that much ahead; the usual trap-looking ending was easily noticeable from where they were.

"Amy, you better keep on guard…I think he's going to ambush us at any moment." The blue hedgehog said quietly.

She just nodded and followed her hero deeper into the fortress. She was deep in thought, mainly because of what just happened along with the strange absence of traps and hazards around.

_Love…The power of love saved our lives…We were dead, but now we're alive…True love…_

Thoughts like that ran through her head, but were cut off when Sonic stopped her walking by putting his arm out stiffly.

"What is it Sonic…?" Amy asked quietly.

"I remember this…" Sonic replied, "…He's going to drop us into another place…" He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

"You ok…?" The pink hedgehog asked with slight worry in her voice.

Sonic just smirked and turned to face her. "Of course. I've done this before, he's such a fool. We'll be fine; I know it like the back of my hand!" He turned back towards the hall leading to a semi-transparent wall. "Now, let's do this!"

"Sonic, before we go…" Amy started, as she got a hold of Sonic's hand. He began to turn slowly. "I just want you to know…No matter what happens, I'm here with you. I'll stick with you 'till the end."

By now, Sonic was looking right into Amy's eyes. Amy let go of his hand and hugged the hedgehog affectionately.

"I'm here with you too, Amy. And I won't let anything happen to you…I'll protect you." He hugged her back, and the two held each other for a few moments, feeling the warmth of their love.

Then Sonic pulled back gently. "Now, we have to stop this guy." Sonic turned and grabbed Amy's hand. "…Together."

He began to run just fast enough so that Amy could keep up, but they were still going at a quick pace. When they reached the wall, they saw a large button behind it, as well as a door. Sonic stopped right in the middle of the slightly lowered platform; the place he knew that he would be dropped from.

The door opened and Eggman stepped out.

"Oh, how nice of you to come, Sonic! I see that you haven't learned a thing!" He grinned in his usually evil manner.

"See you haven't lost a pound, fatty!" Sonic just retorted back, making Amy giggle a little.

"Cocky as usual, hedgehog. We'll see how many smiles you have left after a little ride, shall we?"

"Hold onto me…" Sonic whispered to Amy. "Bring it on!" He yelled at the doctor. Amy wrapped her arms around Sonic to hold on.

Eggman jumped on the large button, and the floor that Sonic and Amy was standing on collapsed and fell, causing them to fall as well. The evil doctor smiled and left the room. "That should keep them busy for a while. Now, onto the preparation of the grand finale!"

The two hedgehogs fell, and Amy held on tightly to Sonic. They both landed a little shakily, but were ok overall. They were in a place that looked like an ancient tribal palace now; there were also tell-tale signs that there was water near, such as the plant life on the walls, and the sound of light splashing every once in a while. Just like it was when Sonic first was there.

"See? I know all this guy's tricks; I won't forget what he's tried, no matter how old." Sonic smirked.

Amy smiled at him, but then her expression changed to fear very quickly. "Sonic, what are all these little holes in the ground…?"

"Little…SHIT!!" The hedgehog dived right into Amy and knocked them both about 5 feet. Right when they flew, sharp spikes shot up to impale the two. They barely made it out of the way in time.

Amy, slightly winded, sat up slowly. "Whoa…what…" She looked over at all the spikes where the two were just standing a moment ago. "Sonic…Thank you." She threw her arms around the hedgehog again.

"Anytime, Amy…Anytime." The blue hedgehog smiled as he hugged her back. "Now, we have to keep going before something else happens."

"Right." Amy stood up with Sonic. The two walked a little forward, and Sonic began to try to make a little small talk.

"That spike trap was new, I guess he HAS added some things."

"I guess…"

"Better watch out, be on guard…"

"Mmmhmm…." Amy seemed slightly distant.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked worriedly, stopping in the process.

Amy stopped as well. "It's nothing…Let's just keep going."

Sonic reached out and held his love's hand. "Please tell me…"

Amy looked down at her feet. "Well…it's just…You've helped me so much, shown me nothing but love…I just feel like I'm not giving enough back…"

"You do a lot more than you could possibly know just by being here with me. I hope you know that." Sonic smiled at her.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't keep interrupting our mission like this. I guess I'm just not cut out for this kinda stu-" Amy was cut off mid-sentence by a gentle kiss to her lips.

"You're fine. I love you just the way you are. Now let's get going, I want us to have a world to live in." Sonic smirked.

Amy smiled sweetly at him. _Always with the humor…Can't keep Sonic down._

The two stepped onto a slanted moving platform. It began to move downward, when Sonic held Amy's hand once again. "We're jumping down, I know a shortcut." Amy nodded, and the two jumped down and landed on the slant that the platform was moving along.

They ran down and jumped down another small drop and landed on a platform. The platform was surrounded by water, and there was an obvious tunnel underneath them.

"God…I remember why I hated this place so much now…" The blue hedgehog said with slight fear in his voice. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Sonic knew he couldn't swim, and last time he did this, he almost drowned trying to get through.

Amy tightened her grip slightly on her hero's hand, and moved closer to him."I'm here for you, Sonic…Always." Amy leaned her head against his shoulder.

Sonic let his breath out slowly. He then leaned his head on hers, and closed his eyes. He took in the love that Amy was giving to him, and was beginning to feel better.

"Thank you, Amy…Thank you so much." Sonic lifted his head, which caused Amy to look up. She was met with the loving gaze of Sonic's green eyes. Amy could see her reflection in them, as well as a burning passion. "This is what I meant when I said you do a lot more than you realize."

Sonic broke the slight trance as he turned to face the water. "Well, we gotta do it." Sonic regained his grip on Amy's hand, and took a deep breath, and left it out slowly once again.

"I believe in you Sonic..." The girl reassured him once more. Sonic smiled at her words; they really comforted him.

He took a deep breath, and leapt into the water, with Amy following right after. The cold liquid quickly came over both of their bodies as they flew in. Although initially shocking, they knew there was no room to complain. Both of them touched down on the bottom, and began to press forward quickly. There was no time to lose; they had to find air before they couldn't make it anymore.

As they began to slowly speed up underwater, Amy held onto Sonic's hand firmly.

_I'm here with you, Sonic…Don't give up…I know you can do it…_

She repeated encouraging words like this in her head as if he could hear them; she couldn't bear the thought of losing him, and it made her feel more at ease knowing her heart was in the right place.

The two kept going, when Sonic suddenly stopped them. A large spear protruded from the ground, then retracted. He signaled to keep going, and they continued. Sonic noticed some stairs leading to the surface ahead, and he sped up as much as he could for being underwater.

Amy followed instinctively, and well as helping Sonic along. Amy, unlike Sonic, could swim fairly well, but preferred to stay at his side instead of leaving him alone.

When they managed to get up the stairs and to the surface, Sonic and Amy both took a sharp breath in as they got the top. They stopped for a moment to catch their breath, and Sonic sat down on the flat platform they were standing on.

"God…I hate water…" the 18-year old managed to say after a moment of heavy breathing.

"You did…good though. I'm proud of you." The 15-year old replied, giving Sonic a soft smile.

"Well don't get too proud, it's not over yet." He signaled to another pool of water that led down to a tunnel a little bit farther off. "Let's get to it; I wanna get this over with."

He stood up, and Amy followed suit. They both dived into the water, and began the trail once again. There were a few more traps involved, such as more spears, a close encounter with a large swinging spiked ball, and strategically placed trap doors, but they made it through fine.

When they got to the surface this time, there were underneath more platforms that had many springs on them. After catching their breath once more, Sonic looked upwards with a grim look.

"There it is…Last time I was here, this led to Eggman's last stand. There's no going back…"

"I'll fight by your side no matter what, even if it means I meet an unfortunate end." Amy stood next to Sonic with determination. "I won't let you down."

"That's what I love about you." The blue hedgehog said with a smile. "Now let's go splatter that Egghead!!"

Sonic jumped up with his usual cocky grin, and Amy followed him with determination and a feeling of security, knowing she was fighting with her love.

The two landed on the springs and were shot up into the unknown darkness.


	21. Back in Station Square

_Sorry about the REALLY long wait, some stuff happened, and then I went on a vacation, and then I got lazy, and the entire time a super writer's block was hitting me in the face._

_Chapter 21_

While Sonic and Amy were traversing Scrap Brain Zone, the rest of the gang had woken up to a less than optimal realization.

"What's that?"

"It's approaching quickly!"

"Chao, chao!"

"Cheese says it's scaring him…"

"That looks a lot like…"

"…It can't be…"

What first looked like a dark cloud coming toward the city was now separating into more noticeable shapes. It was picking up speed as well.

"It is..."

"Oh god…"

"Tails, get the Tornado III ready…"

"Sonic took it, remember?"

When Tails had first woken up, he realized that his craft was gone almost instantly. At first he thought that Eggman had took it, but after meeting up with the rest of his friends, Cream pointed out that Sonic might have taken it to find Amy, who they found was also missing. It made sense, seeing how Amy's building was half-destroyed, and Sonic was one of the only ones who could somewhat fly the Tornado anyway.

"Well guys, the Tornado II will have to do then…"

"I got my fists, I don't need that plane anyway."

"The agency isn't responding; we're basically the only defense here now."

"Chao, chao…"

"It'll be alright Cheese, don't worry."

It was now extremely apparent what the incoming threat was. It was a fleet of ships; no doubt sent from Eggman.

"Tornado II is ready to fly!" Tails exclaimed, firing up the engine.

"Bring 'em on!" Knuckles yelled, cracking his fists while standing on the top wing of the biplane with Rouge.

"Don't get too cocky, Knuckles!" Rouge retorted to her friend, more in a jokingly manner if anything.

"Why won't this madman ever stop…" Cream said quietly to herself, as she and Cheese were secured into the back seat of the Tornado II.

As the craft pulled out of the workshop, Tails issued orders to the crew.

"Alright, I'm going to head towards the fleet. Knuckles, Rouge, when you see an opportunity, jump off onto the nearest vessel or building and continue on, taking out as many of Eggman's forces as you can." The young fox explained.

"Got it!" Rouge and Knuckles said simultaneously.

"Meanwhile, Cream and I will stay here in the Tornado. Cream, when you see them jump off, signal me and we'll switch to attack mode. We'll head off the main ship and attempt to take out as many smaller ones as we can. I need you to watch the wings and our back, Cream. I can't watch everything at once."

"Alright, Tails, I'll try my best!" Cream assured her friend.

"Now, as with any battle, it might not go exactly according to plan, so don't try to exactly stick to it if you can't. If need be, use these headsets to contact me and get a quick new plan." Tails handed Knuckles and Rouge small, adjustable headsets. They fitted them on their heads, and gave Tails a thumbs up.

Tails handed one to Cream as well. "Just in case we get separated." He explained, seeing the slightly confused look she gave him.

After everything was in check, Tails pulled onto a long road.

"Alright everyone, hold on!!"

Knuckles and Rouge got down and held the edge of the wing, and Cream held onto Cheese, who was hugging Cream with slight fright.

"Throttle…Forward!!" Tails exclaimed as he pushed up on the throttle lever. "And…Takeoff!!" The fox pulled up on the controls, causing the plane to lift off the ground and soar into the air.

Tails, being the expert pilot that he is, had no trouble taking off. However, as he approached the fleet, things got a little shaky. He had to speed in as quickly as he could without bucking Knuckles and Rouge off, as well as go in undetected as far as possible.

"Tails!! On our right!!" Cream exclaimed as loud as she could.

The young fox looked to his right promptly. Approaching quickly were some small fighter craft.

"Damn! We've been spotted!" Tails mumbled to himself. "Hang on everyone!!"

He pulled up and to the right suddenly, causing the fighters to have to turn around to get to him. But by the time they did, the Tornado was waiting for them.

"Fire machine guns!!"

Tails pressed the trigger and shot down two of the 5 craft that were after him. They broke formation and headed back for Eggman's fleet.

"Everyone alright?" Tails asked into his headset.

"We're fine up here." Rouge responded.

"Cheese and I are doing fine as well, thank you Tails." Cream politely added.

"Ok! We're going in then!" Tails exclaimed as he turned to face the fleet once more, and pressed forward on the throttle.

They zoomed towards the incoming assault head-on. Tails had to dodge a few projectiles here and there, but overall, the fleet didn't pay as much attention to them as it maybe should have. All of them took this as a good thing though: less things to get in their way, the better.

"Alright guys, we're nearing the first flagship. You getting off here?" The fox asked over the headset.

"Yeah, this'll do. Me and Rouge will take this thing down and hop over to the next. We got it." Knuckles replied.

"Alright then, me and Cream will head for the main ship and see what we can do." Tails nodded to Cream, who nodded back.

"Take care, Mr. Knuckles and Ms. Rouge!" Cream said politely.

"Alright, we will." Rouge replied just as politely back.

The two on the wing jumped off in the direction of the battleship.

Both being able to glide, they had no problem making a safe landing. But as soon as they landed, they were met by many unfriendly, metallic faces. The many robot drones turned and immediately started to rush the pair.

Knuckles jabbed one right in the head, causing immediate malfunction. He turned around and upper-cutted another who was trying to sneak up on him. Rouge, beside him, kicked another robot's knees out of place, and knocked it into another in the process.

The two fought their way out of the initial wave, and then headed for the control room of the ship.

After smashing straight through the robot that was driving, Knuckles stood at the controls, looking confused.

His companion sighed and smiled. "Let me do this." Rouge took control of the ship. It was a little hard, but there wasn't any point in driving correctly. Not for what this mission was for. "Get ready to jump."

"Wha-?" Knuckles started, but it was too late. The female bat had already turned the ship 90 degrees; making it perpendicular to where the rest of the ships were going.

"LET'S GO!!" Rouge screamed, grabbing Knuckles' hand.

"RIGHT!!" He screamed back, still not completely aware of her plan, but aware at least of one thing: They were about to crash.

The two ran out onto the deck. "JUMP!!" Rouge screamed, as she jumped off the edge towards the next ship.

The echidna smirked. _Now I get it…Have more ships crash into this one, cause a huge backup. Jump from ship to ship when they get close, it'll be easy!_ He jumped off toward the next ship, which was very close now.

--

Back in the Tornado, both Tails and Cream jumped in their seats when they heard the huge explosion. Cream looked back, and saw one of the flagships being destroyed by the others.

"Are we alright, Cream??" The fox asked hastily, not being able to look away from where he was flying.

"It looks like Mr. Knuckles and Ms. Rouge destroyed several ships in one take…" Cream said grimly.

"That's good! Now, we just need to…" Tails cut himself off when he heard Cream sniffle a little bit. "Cream…are you alright?" He asked worriedly.

The young rabbit closed her eyes and held her chao tightly. "I just wish all this fighting and destruction would stop…"

"…I know it's hard…But we have to. If we don't stop Eggman, he'll destroy everything. Everyone."

"…You're right…I'm sorry."

"No, it's ok…" Tails assured her, "I know what you mean." The young fox took a deep breath, and then pushed the throttle forward.

_I really wish it would stop as well…I mean, it's tearing our world apart._

Lost in thought, Tails wasn't paying as much attention as he should have been.

"Tails, more ships are coming!!" Cream blurted out as she saw a squadron of 20 more fighters approaching.

"We'll make it through, don't worry…" He replied, not really hearing what his passenger had said.

"They're getting closer!!"

"Chao, chao!"

"It'll be alright, Cream."

"DO SOMETHING!!" The young girl screamed harshly, jolting Tails out of his trance.

"Wha-!" He immediately attempted to maneuver out of the way, but it was too late. The ships caught him dead-on and shot the Tornado II several times.

"WARNING: CRITICAL ERROR." The ship's controls yelled out.

Cream huddled into her seat, holding Cheese tightly. She screamed out in fear; they were gone as far as she could tell.

"I'M SORRY, CREAM!!" Tails yelled out as he was fruitlessly attempting to get the craft out of a spiral. "…so sorry…" He added quietly.

Another ship shot at the Tornado's wing and spun the ship even faster, causing the pair to go unconscious.

Something large was there to catch the falling ship, however…

--

After getting down several ships, the explosions were starting to catch up to Kunckles and Rouge.

"MOVE FASTER!!" The echidna screamed while running.

"I'M TRYING!!" Rouge hastily replied, jumping over a crate.

They hopped over the next rail and onto the next ship. But even as they got onto that one, it was already crashing into the previous ship. It seemed that their plan worked a little TOO well.

"WELL, WHAT NOW!?" Knuckles screamed at his companion.

"RUN FASTER!!" She retorted.

As soon as she said that, the explosions struck one of the fuel pods in the ship they were currently standing on. It flung the two high into the air, and onto the deck of a ship higher up.

They were unconscious upon landing, and many more robots were there to meet them…


	22. Spite, Malice, Rage and Love

_YAY FOR FINAL FANTASY 4 YAAAAAAAAAAAY I love my DS. Seriously, I remember playing FF4 on the SNES, and GOD it was epic, but this…this takes it to a new level. My only complaint is the summons don't actually show the enemy getting hit…oh yeah, story. Gotcha. You get super chapter for the wait!_

_Chapter 22_

"Hmm…"

Sonic and Amy had landed safely above, but there didn't seem to be any sign of…anything. Everything was dark, except themselves, eerily.

"What now, Sonic?"

"Give me a sec…"

The hedgehogs tried to think of what could have gone wrong, what to do next, or anything at all. But their answer quickly came to them as a small light was seen in the distance.

"Sonic?" Amy asked her hero.

"Yeah?" He casually replied.

"What's that?" Amy pointed to the light.

"…Looks like a camera." Sonic whispered.

"Oh, but it is!!" a booming voice came out of nowhere.

The lights turned on, and the two found themselves in a big, empty room.

"Right on cue, Eggface!!" Sonic shouted out.

"Cocky as usual, I see. Well, at least you'll get to die happy!! Oh-ho-ho-ho!!" Eggman replied in his usual "I have the upper hand" voice.

"Yeah, right after you!!" Sonic yelled just as surely back.

"I'll kill you for what you've done to us!!" Amy unexpectedly screamed out, thinking about how Sonic had almost died.

"Tsk tsk, such a temper! And after all of my hospitality, too. It's a shame, because you KNOW what happens to bad little girls, don't you?"

At that moment, a panel in the ground lowered slightly, and then opened up to reveal a large hole. Out of that hole, a huge mech-robot was raised into view.

"Let me introduce to you my greatest invention yet! The Egg Warrior!!"

The giant robot had a very large sword in one hand. It looked almost like a medieval knight, but without the helmet. Where the head is, there sat the doctor in his Eggmobile.

"Sure outdid yourself this time, I see! How long do you expect THIS one to last, 5 minutes? 10?" Sonic yelled jokingly. He was terrified, but he couldn't let him know that.

Amy, however, wasn't really catching on to that idea. She had gone through so much, not to mention not having nearly as much battle experience as Sonic. She grabbed a hold of Sonic's arm. "Sonic, that thing looks pretty dangerous, actually…" She quietly said, looking at the sword.

"Your little girlfriend is right; you should let your fear show." The doctor said somewhat darkly. "Besides, these are going to be your last moments with her. Why not show her who you REALLY are?"

Amy saw what Eggman was trying to do, so she attempted to fix her mistake. "I know who he is!! He's a brave hero, and MUCH more of a man than you'll EVER be!!" She screamed in rage.

She stopped when Sonic held his arm up in front her; a clear sign that he had it covered.

The blue hedgehog closed his eyes and lowered his head with a smile. "Eggman, you never seem to learn, do you? I feel that power." Sonic smirked.

"Ah, I see you've found out my plan. How silly of me. I'm SO scared!" He replied childishly.

"I feel it too…" Amy began. "…Chaos emeralds."

"Exactly." Sonic said as he opened his eyes and looked towards his adversary.

They were right: There were Chaos Emeralds embedded in the floor in a giant circle pattern. They were out of sight; but the power was strong enough to tap into even though they were not in direct contact.

"Show me what you have, hedgehog!!" The mech held it's sword up, and charged forward.

"Follow me, Amy!" Sonic said with confidence as he pulled Amy along. She followed, and the sword missed the two completely. But, something about Sonic's plan didn't seem right. She knew what he was going to try to do, but she didn't see how he was going to do it.

"Sonic, don't you need power rings to truly activate the Chaos Emerald's power?" Amy asked hastily.

"…I'll think of something." He replied.

"Or, how about I think of it for you?" Eggman said as his mech turned around. He flung a hand out, and many rings flew out towards the hedgehogs.

Amy and Sonic stared in disbelief. "Wow Eggman, I musta hit you pretty hard last time. Thanks anyway!" Sonic joked.

"I don't like this Sonic; he wouldn't just give you the tools to defeat him…" Amy tried to tell him worriedly.

"Oh, come on Amy, just accept the fact that he has FINALLY lost it." Sonic remarked as he began to pick up all the rings. "He thinks his little machine can stand up to my Super form, but he's WAY ahead of himself." Sonic added as his picked up the last ring.

Eggman swiped the sword right at the two as they were talking, but he did it slowly on purpose. Amy and Sonic dodged all the same, however.

"Well, no use standing around talking about it. Let's get this thing going!" Sonic said with his trademark smirk as he began to feel the power of the emeralds and the rings flow through him.

Amy, however, wasn't so sure. There still was a huge air of doubt that she could feel hanging in the situation. "Be careful, Sonic…"

--

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang were waking up and finding their next problem.

'Dear my little pests,

I have captured all of the chaos emeralds and are using them in my latest invention via their energy pulses. If you (e.g. Knucklehead) are confused on what that means, ask the little fox-boy. Anyway, you can thank me for saving you later. You may want to locate a crucial object; it may or may not help you.

With hate,

Dr. Eggman

Evil Genius'

Tails put down the letter that he found next to where they woke up.

"Well, he obviously wanted us alive for something; I doubt he really cares about us." The fox stated.

"Yeah, no kidding…" Knuckles added, remembering how they went out.

"Don't worry Cheese, I'm sure we'll be ok…" Cream tried to comfort her Chao, who was shivering into the young rabbit's shoulder.

"Well, anyone have any ideas what this 'crucial object' is?" Rouge asked, trying to get moving as soon as possible.

Knuckles lowered his head for a moment. "Yes, actually…" He started. "…The Master Emerald. I feel it."

Tails' eyes light up. "Yeah…That's perfect! Eggman is no doubt using at least one Chaos Emerald in his newest invention, or to run this fortress…"

"And we could use the Master Emerald to stop them!" Rouge finished for Tails.

"Exactly." Knuckles said with a grin. "What a fool." A smirk went across the echidna's face.

"I don't know about this…" Cream said quietly.

Tails turned to face her. "Why not?"

"Well…It just doesn't make sense. I mean, why would Dr. Eggman just let us win like this? I'm sure he knew that Mr. Knuckles could use the Master Emerald…"

"Cream, listen," Knuckles said calmly and nicely. "When a person is old and completely crazy, I'm sure they get stupid after a while." Knuckles smiled, but Cream just looked confused.

"I think what he MEANS to say, Cream, is that Eggman wasn't thinking when he gave us access to the Master Emerald." Rouge tried to explain. "He just did something stupid, and it's better for us, so we shouldn't complain, right?"

"I suppose so…" Cream mumbled.

"Well, we can't just sit here talking about it; I'm sure Sonic and Amy would appreciate it if we stop those Emeralds as soon as we can." Tails told everyone.

Everyone nodded, and Knuckles started down the lone hallway that lead out of the room they were in. "Follow me." He said. Everyone walked out with the echidna.

They were walking down an oddly safe hallway, and there were no turns or deceptions of any kind.

"Hm…This IS kinda odd, now that I think about it…" Knuckles said at last. "I mean, we're going the right way, but…"

"It's just too safe…" Rouge finished for him.

"Well, that might mean there's going to be something unexpected, so don't let your guard down…" Tails reminded his friends. They nodded and continued down the linear hallway.

The group reached the chamber where the Master Emerald was, surprisingly without any traps or danger in their way. When they walked in, the first thing Knuckles noticed was that the Emerald was just out in the open, on a large pedestal that resembled the shrine where the giant gem is usually kept. The pillars all around the shrine had the seven Chaos Emeralds on top; they were in perfect position for being controlled by the Master Emerald. However, they all seemed to have a transparent box around them, and the box reached up into the ceiling, where they connected to a square hole.

"He just put it here like this? With all seven Chaos Emeralds!?" Rouge somewhat yelled in disbelief.

"Those things around the emeralds…" Tails started, when a loud thump was heard above them. Everyone looked up suddenly, but nothing happened.

"Sounded like there's something going on in a room above us." Kunckles stated.

"What do you think it is?" Cream asked.

"Well," Tails started again, "By the way this is set up, it looks like something could be drawing the power of those emeralds."

"I thought that only living things could use the power from a distance." Rouge responded.

"Well, technically, if Eggman were to use a two-way frequency transmitter on the same wavelength as the Emeralds, along with merging the machine with a tri-pulse antenna capable of receiving power waves of a post-3kg nature," Tails was cut off by a louder thump, this time slightly rattling the room.

Knuckles, not getting a single word that the young fox had just said, decided to ask for clarification.

"LAYMAN'S TERMS!!" He screamed out of frustration.

The fox was a little taken back, but complied. "It's possible that Eggman could be using their power, he could just be hiding the emeralds from Sonic and Amy to lull them into a false sense of security."

"I bet that's who above us; it's Eggman battling them as we speak!" Rouge pointed out.

"I don't like this…" Cream said quietly.

"Well, what else are we going to do?" Knuckles asked. "I mean, it's not like stopping the emeralds is going to hurt anyone besides Eggface anyway, so why not?"

"Knuckles is right, Cream. It might actually just be the difference in Sonic and Amy's battle." Tails pointed out.

Knuckles stepped up to the shrine and stood before the giant gem of power.

"Go ahead and do it, Knuckles." Rouge told her friend.

Knuckles nodded, and then placed his hands onto the emerald and closed his eyes. He then began to recite the chant he learned quite a long time ago.

"_The servers are the seven Chaos. Chaos is power; power is enriched by the heart. The Server serves to unify the Chaos._"

As Knuckles spoke, the Master Emerald, along with all of the Chaos Emeralds, began to shine brightly and spin in place.

"Only you have the power to do this! Please, stop the Chaos Emeralds!!" Knuckles announced to the gem, and it span faster and faster, until it emitted a great shine of light. Everyone shielded their eyes as the bright light overpowered everything.

When the light was back to normal, the Chaos Emeralds had stopped spinning, and lost their ability to float in place as well.

"You stopped them, Knuckles!" Tails congratulated him.

"Yeah, Sonic should have a much easier time now." Rouge added.

Knuckles smiled, obviously proud of his contribution.

"I still don't like this…" Cream mumbled quietly to herself. "Something doesn't feel right…"

--

Sonic's fur turned a golden-yellow and his spines stood on end. He opened his eyes after taking in the emeralds' power; the irises now crimson.

"See the flaw in your plan yet, Eggdork?" Sonic called out, now beginning to float a little off the ground.

"Have YOU?" The doctor called back. He then broke out into a maniacal laughter.

"Sonic…"Amy started with slight worry in her voice.

"Don't worry Amy; he can't stand up to me now. You just make sure you don't get hit by anything." Sonic reassured her as he floated up higher.

"…Be careful…" Amy mumbled quietly.

"Bring it on, hedgehog!" Eggman screamed at his adversary.

Without replying, Sonic charged directly at the windshield of the machine. The warrior hastily put up an arm and attempted to dodge, but it was knocked back slightly due to the force of the impact. Sonic dodged a few counter-swings from the giant sword, and smirked.

"That all you got? Heh, we'll be out of here in no time!" Sonic said as he charged once more.

This time, Eggman successfully dodged the attack, and swung with the flat side of his blade as a counter. It struck right on the Super hedgehog's back, causing him to fly and hit the wall.

Amy gasped and her heart jumped through her throat. But she was soon calmed when she saw Sonic get out of the new crater without difficulty.

Sonic began to charge one more time, but then he felt something odd. Like the power was leaving him.

_This can't be good…_

Eggman saw the change on the hedgehog's face, and smiled darkly. "Perfect." He said quietly to himself.

There was a flash of light, and then Sonic's fur turned back to its normal Cobalt Blue. Because he was going so fast, however, he was still flying in the air.

"Where's your power now, hedgehog?" Eggman tauntingly said. He then swung an arm directly at the now powerless Sonic. It was a direct hit, and he was instantly knocked in the opposite direction and into the ground.

"SONIC!!" Amy screamed as she ran over to where her hero landed.

She dropped to her knees and was instantly in tears.

"Oh god…Sonic…no…" She cried as she saw how hurt Sonic really was.

--

"Did you hear that?" Tails asked worriedly.

"It can't be…I thought all the walls in this place were supposed to be really thick!" Knuckles added.

"Maybe we're all just hearing things…" Rouge tried to justify.

"No, it was too in sync with that crash…But…there's no way!" Tails replied.

"…Sonic's probably hurt really badly." Cream finally said. Everybody stopped when they heard this.

"W-what makes you think that?" Tails asked hesitantly, as Knuckles and Rouge stood dumbstruck.

"Well, when that loud noise went off, something was obviously hit…And maybe Amy was so in shock that Sonic was the one getting hit…Maybe she still loves Sonic, deep in her heart. She must have felt all of her old feelings again, and let them out…" Cream closed her eyes and held onto Cheese, who was still very scared.

Everyone was silent as they took in the rabbit's words. They all knew she was most likely right, and it was a horrible, yet beautiful thought. But that was only the beginning of the horror.

"…Then when we shut off the emeralds…" Rouge finally said.

"Sonic must have…" Knuckles started.

"Yeah…that's the only way he could have come down so hard…" Tails quietly added.

Just then, the Master Emerald dropped through the pedestal that it was on. The four quickly looked, and Knuckles even dove for it, but it was too late. The hole it suddenly dropped through was sealed.

"…Now there's not even a way to re-activate them."

"Damn that Eggman…Damn him to hell."

"My god, what have we done…"

Cream still stood quietly, trying to comfort her chao…

--

Eggman sat laughing in his mech-warrior as Amy sat crying over Sonic's broken body.

Sonic was still alive, however.

"…A…Amy…" He barely got out. "St…Stay…strong…I…believe…in you…" Sonic coughed up blood and cringed in pain.

"But Sonic…I couldn't protect you…I'm so sorry…I'm horrible…" Amy blamed herself.

The blue hedgehog barely managed a smile. "You…you did…fine…I'm proud…" He coughed up a little more blood and groaned. "I also…want…you to know…" He seethed through the pain and put his hand on Amy's.

"I…love you…Amy…" Sonic looked directly into Amy's eyes for as long as he could before he passed out.

"…I love you too, Sonic…" Amy quietly mumbled as she placed her head gently on her love's chest.

"Aww, how touching!!" Eggman declared sarcastically, attempting to ruin the hedgehog's life even more.

_Love…A truly powerful force…How powerful can it be?_ Amy thought to herself, tears still falling. _I've…I've got to try before it's too late. Sonic…For you…Only you…_

"Well, I've had about enough of your mushy garbage. The only good hedgehog is a DEAD hedgehog." The doctor said with a very dark tone.

_Sonic…Finish him once and for all…_

Eggman started to charge for the two hedgehogs. But right before the mech reached them, a blinding light shone, and a force drove him back. When the light dimmed, Amy was laying motionless on the ground. Sonic, however, was glowing a bright golden-yellow.

His left ear twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes. He slowly sat up, and realized that he was still alive. He took a look at Amy, who wasn't moving.

"…Amy…?" Sonic asked slowly, tears welling up in his eyes. He got no response.

"You…BASTARD!!" The hedgehog screamed, as he stood up and faced the Egg Warrior. The mech had just regained its balance, and was now facing its nemesis yet again.

"I-Impossible…!" Eggman gasped as he saw who stood before him.

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!!" Sonic screamed in rage as he flew as fast and as hard as he could at the Doctor. It was a direct hit, and the recoil alone almost knocked out Eggman.

However, he just tightened his grip on the controls and sneered darkly. "Now that the bitch is gone, it should be more than easy to kill you." He tried to stab at the hedgehog's emotions.

His plan backfired quickly, because Sonic's fury was fueled even further by this statement.

"YOU'RE GOING TO EVER REGRET TAKING ONE STEP INTO THIS ROOM!!" Sonic yelled as he charged again. He was deflected by Eggman's sword this time, but he didn't care. Time after time, he charged and charged again, being barely deflected each time by another sword swipe.

With cuts all over, Sonic was beginning to realize why the invention was so deadly. It could hurt him, even in his current form. However, this didn't stop his rage and lust for vengeance.

"I want you to know, hedgehog, that your little girlfriend didn't get killed by me. Oh, no. She committed suicide." The evil Doctor called out.

Sonic was about to charge yet again, but he wavered a little this time. In his hesitance, The Egg Warrior's sword came crashing hard into Sonic's ribs, blade first. There was a big gash, and a rib cracked.

Screaming out in pain, the hedgehog fell to the ground. But it wasn't too long before he came back up.

"No…Not this time…You're not winning this time…You never have…And you NEVER WILL!!" The super-charged hedgehog announced, before flying quick circles around the robot warrior.

While flying around, he was going at such a velocity that it was impossible to track him. All of Eggman's sensors just couldn't keep up with the sheer speed of Sonic's movement. He was also beginning to move SO fast, that a little current was picking up. It grew and grew until it was a vortex of air; a tornado if you will.

This paralyzed the Egg Warrior; it could stand, but if it tried to move at all, it would be thrown off balance and be knocked over.

"This time…You're going to truly pay for what you've done." Sonic's voice echoed all around.

"For enslaving those animals as robots…" A hit to the hull of the machine came out of the vortex.

"For trying to tamper with time…" Another came, this time harder.

"For tricking Knuckles into thinking I was evil…" Yet another hit, this time almost making the mech lose balance.

"For destroying countless forests and cities…"

"For reviving Chaos…"

"For starting up the Eclipse Cannon…"

"But most of all…For hurting Amy Rose." Sonic finally said, as he turned directly into the Egg Warrior. This time, he went with so much force and momentum, he ripped clean through the machine.

"For putting us through this HELL!!" The hedgehog turned back and ripped another hole into the robot.

"FOR EVER THINKING, ONCE, THAT YOU COULD FUCK WITH AMY AND NOT HAVE TO ANSWER TO ME!!" Sonic screamed one last time, and crashed directly through the windshield.

All time seemed to slow down for a moment, as Eggman stared right into Sonic's rage-filled eyes. The windshield was slowly moving down in piece towards the floor, Sonic's hand getting closer to his neck. All he could think was one word.

_Shit._

Sonic grabbed the doctor's neck, and lifted up on his head, still keeping his momentum. The sheer force of the movement ripped Eggman's head clean off, and Sonic flew through the other side of the Egg Warrior as blood began to spew all over the cockpit.

The machine slowly tipped, and then fell over in a mighty thud.

Sonic gently landed, Eggman's head still in his hand. He looked down at it, blood still oozing out. He looked back at the ruined machine.

"…Burn in Hell, Eggman."


	23. Smiles and Tears

_The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…The cake is a lie…_

_Chapter 23_

Sonic's fur returned to its normal Cobalt Blue, and he dropped the head of the madman. He rushed over to where Amy was and fell to his knees.

"Amy…" He checked her pulse.

"…Dead…Oh, god Amy…" A tear fell onto his love's cheek.

Sonic sat in semi-silence choking out sobs for some time. He laid his head on her chest and was trying to get enough courage to admit she was really dead, but couldn't seem to manage it.

Eventually, he heard a hatch open from across the room. He promptly looked up, and saw a trap door that had been previously sealed open on the floor.

"Sonic!!" He heard a familiar voice yell, as he saw figures climbing out of the hatch. He knew who they were; His friends.

Tails ran over as fast as he could and hugged his buddy. "Sonic, I missed you so much!" Tails said through tears of joy. He might have been smart, but Tails still was young.

"I…I missed you too, buddy." Sonic replied half-heartedly.

"…Something wrong Son-!" Tails cut himself off when he saw who was behind his best friend.

The rest of the gang caught up, and noticed what Tails was staring horrifically at.

"Is she alright!?" Cream blurted out, tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

"I…I don't think so…" Sonic slowly said. "She's…she's dead." He choked on that last word and began to cry silently again when he said it.

"No…" Knuckles said grimly.

"My god…" Rouge whispered under her breath.

"…Sonic…I…" Tails tried to stay positive and cheer Sonic up, but it was no use. They were all attached to Amy as good friends, and the thought of how Sonic was going to take it wasn't making it any better.

Everyone had a moment of silent grieving and choked sobs. They were all seeing the true seriousness of what Eggman had done.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again…Damn that Eggman…" Kunckles finally grumbled.

"…Too late…" Sonic mumbled back.

"…Huh?" Tails asked.

"Look over there…" Sonic pointed slowly.

Rouge ran over to look, and was taken aback immediately.

"Sonic…You…KILLED him?" She gasped.

Cream jumped a little at the thought; although the doctor was a bad person, she still didn't like the idea of people dying like this.

Knuckles went to go look, and picked up the severed head. "Well…At least one good thing came of this…"

"Eggman…Gone?" Tails wondered. For as long as he could remember, Eggman had been up to something and Sonic would stop him.

"…Yeah…but him dead isn't bringing Amy back." Sonic said grimly. "And neither is sitting here. Come on, I'm sure Amy wouldn't like to be left here…"

Everybody nodded, and Sonic picked up Amy's body. "Come on, I bet Eggman keeps a few spare ships of some kind around here…"

They all went back down the hatch, and turned through a hallway. They were led conveniently to a docking bay, which had many kinds of flying craft in it. Tails picked out a big enough, yet still small enough craft and figured out how to fly it in a matter of seconds.

The group took off and started towards home.

"Mr. Sonic…" Cream started shakily, once the ship's auto pilot had been set for Station Square, "I'm…I'm sorry Amy is gone…I'm sorry for everyone…"

"…Thank you, Cream…But it's not your fault. So please…don't take any blame." The blue hedgehog replied. "If anything, it was my fault for not protecting her like I should have…"

"Sonic, it isn't your fault either…It was Eggman's fault." Knuckles tried to assure his friend. "He shouldn't have started any of this…He's the one who delivered the fatal blow."

"Actually…" Tails interrupted. He had been studying Amy and trying to figure out exactly how and when she died, so they could know for a funeral or later records. "It doesn't look like anything killed her…All of her bones and organs are virtually unharmed. At least, not enough to kill her…"

"…What? Then how'd she die?" Rouge asked in a confused tone.

"I…I don't know. If anything, scientifically it looks like natural causes…Not even anything she ate or breathed."

Sonic stayed silent as he listened and looked at his love's closed eyes.

"Guys…" He said slowly.

"…Yeah?" Tails replied.

"Could you…all let me have a minute…?" He asked nicely.

"…Of course." His friend told him. Everyone shuffled out of the room and into the large control area, where they continued their discussion.

"Amy…I…I think I know what you did…" Sonic whispered as he got close to her. "And I want to say…thanks."

The hedgehog was beginning to cry a little again; all the pain of losing a loved one is a huge burden to have.

"I just…I just wish you were here…I wish you would answer…Oh, god, Amy…I love you so much…" Sonic sobbed out.

From the other room, the hedgehog's sobbing could be heard quite clearly.

"Poor Sonic…He loved her dearly." Rouge said sympathetically.

"I know…It's hard for all of us, but for him…I can't even imagine…" Knuckles replied.

"Is Mr. Sonic going to be ok…?" Cream asked Tails.

"…I hope so, Cream…I hope so…" The fox told her.

For another half an hour, Sonic sobbed and let his mind run wild.

_Amy, why did you have to die? I thought that love was supposed to be more powerful than that…Oh, god, no, this isn't happening…It's just another nightmare…no…no it isn't. I know that…The pain is too real. She's here…She's dead. Amy…Amy's gone…NO…What am I saying? She…she can't be dead!! But…then again…here she is…Ah, I'm just denying the truth…I mean...no…there has to be…there is no way to bring her back…I really wish there was..._

Sonic looked up and saw the expressionless face of his love.

_Amy…I…I love you so much…I…I want you to know that…No matter what I've said…No matter how many times I turned you down in the past…I've always secretly…secretly loved you. I just never really realized it until you stopped loving me…And now, it's too late. I had a little taste of your love again, but…it's bittersweet, you know? Nevertheless…I hope you're in a better place…Because…I don't want anything bad to happen to you…Never again…_

By this time, Sonic's eyes were red from all the tears, and he felt sick. But worst of all, his heart was shattered.

_Amy…Amy Rose…I wish…I hope…no, I know that you still love me…I can…feel…it?_

Sonic looked up slowly and looked at her face again. It was true, he felt something strange pass through him. It made him feel loved, like Amy was there again.

And then…

"…S…Sonic…?"

"…Amy!?" Sonic sat up in shock. "AMY!!"

"AMY!?" Everybody in the control room said in shock at the same time, as they went rushing into the back room.

The blue hedgehog threw his arms around her eyes opened slowly.

"…Sonic…" The pink hedgehog mumbled slowly.

"Oh, Amy, I thought you were dead!! Don't scare me like that…" He cried through tears of joy.

Amy said nothing, and just put her arms around her love and cried tears of joy back at him.

"Amy, I love you so much…"

"I love you too, Sonic…so much…"

Tails, Knuckles, Rouge and Cream all stood watching in amazement.

"That's so sweet…" Cream quietly said through her own tears of joy.

"How did…?" Knuckles asked in amazement and confusion.

"She just…did…" Tails told him.

"Wow…Just…wow…" Rouge added in while she watched the happy scene.

--

"So, Amy, what exactly DID happen…?" Sonic asked. The two hedgehogs sat in room 15A, floor 7, on Amy's bed.

"Well…It's hard to explain." Amy started. The two had just gotten back from the party that was thrown in honor of the newfound peace in the world. It was a great party, but after things were settled down a little, Tails told the two what the rest of them were doing during the entire ordeal. Now, Sonic and Amy had a little alone time.

"When you turned Super, I had a feeling that something wasn't right…Eggman isn't stupid enough to just give you his weakness unless he has some sort of plan."

"I'll agree with that…" Sonic said half-jokingly.

"Heh, yeah…Anyway, after the emeralds' power was taken, and you were hit, I was sure you were dead…You were bleeding so much, and it looked like you broke every bone in your body…"

"I don't remember THAT part…"

"Well, it was an awful sight…But…here's where things get weird. I was heartbroken beyond belief; I mean, I thought you were dead…So I closed my eyes and…I just…I don't know. I thought about how much I loved you, and how much I wanted you back alive, and how much I would do to get you back, and then…Dark.

"…Dark?"

"Yeah…things got dark for a while…Then I was watching you sob over MY body…"

"…Well, I remember waking up and being Super again, which is when I killed Eggman…I was in such a rage, I thought he killed you. After I was done, I turned back to normal and found you…"

"…Which is when my memory becomes clear again. I was a spirit…I WAS dead. But Eggman didn't kill me…"

"…Well then what was it?" Sonic asked confusedly.

"…It was love." Amy replied.

"Love killed you? That doesn't make any sense…"

"No, it didn't KILL me…It gave you life. My love…" Amy closed her eyes and looked down.

"…Is that possible?"

"Yes, but I don't know exactly how. But listen Sonic: when I was a spirit, I met somebody. He wouldn't tell me his name, but he was in love with a girl who was with him. He explained to me that the same thing happened to him in his lifetime…"

Sonic still looked confused a little.

"…What he said he did was that he said he loved the girl so much, that he willed all of his energy to her when she was murdered."

"…Oh…I think I get it now…" Sonic said as it clicked in his brain. "So what you're saying is that you love me so much, you were able to bring me back to life…?"

"I think so…The energy of my love mixed with the passion and will of my soul…"

"Wow…That's amazing…To think you had such power just with love…" Sonic said as he looked at Amy.

Amy smiled softly and looked into her hero's eyes. "That's it though. You helped."

Sonic looked a little confused, but Amy continued. "After the fight and you all got onto the ship, you were at my side, giving all your love that you had to me…It was enough to bring me back." She scooted a little closer to Sonic.

"…That's why you came back…"

"Mmmhmm…" Amy nodded as she scooted just a bit closer.

Sonic smiled and closed the gap between them so they were sitting side by side.

"That must mean we love each other a lot…" The blue hedgehog said softly. Amy smiled and nodded gently.

The two looked lovingly into eachother's eyes for a moment, then leaned in and shared a gentle kiss. Sonic wrapped his arms around his love and continued to look into Amy's shining jade eyes.

"You know, you didn't look half bad in nothing but panties and a bra…" He joked.

"Oh, stop it…" Amy playfully shoved as she blushed slightly.

"No, you really do…Then again, you're always cute…" Sonic kissed her cheek gently.

"Well, you've always been my handsome, strong hero…" Amy lovingly replied.

"What about when I…You know…" Sonic trailed off a little. Amy knew he was referring to what he did three years ago.

"I already forgave you long ago…Don't worry your head about that." The girl kissed her love's cheek.

"And never did blame you for anything I went through…" Sonic assured her.

"But…it WAS partly my fault, wasn-" Amy was cut off by Sonic's finger being held to her lips.

"Shh, let's just say nobody's to blame except no one."

"…I can live with that."

They both laughed slightly, and hugged tightly.

"God Amy, I love you so much…" Sonic told her.

"I love you too…Like no other girl could." Amy replied.

"No matter what the cost…" Sonic started.

"No matter how many obstacles…" Amy continued.

"As long as we love each other…"

"Thoroughly and true…"

"There is nothing we can't do." The two lovers finished together, and ended in a passionate kiss.

**THE END**

...AND THUS ENDS EPIC FREAKING STORY!! w00T!! Thank you, everyone who took the time out of their lives to read this, I hope I didn't give you any nightmares with graphic descriptions!

TILL NEXT TIME PEOPLE!

-YTH


End file.
